From Holden:

Several editorial pages accross this country endorsed George Bush’s reelection with the hope that he would exhibit a smidgen of rational behavior in his second term. The New York Times, who endorsed Kerry, points out that any hope of a second term conversion was illusory at best, idiotic and a bit disingenuous at worst.

We had hoped, when Mr. Bush was re-elected, that he’d rethink his goals once the next campaign was no longer an issue. There are so many critical problems facing the nation. But the president seems determined to ignore the biggest challenges and to home in on politically charged side issues. Medicare faces a perilous future, given growing health costs and the aging of the baby boomer population, and anything approaching a resolution would require hard bipartisan work. But the White House instead decided to make privatizing Social Security its chief priority. Social Security’s long-term problems are relatively minor compared with Medicare’s, and the fixes are pretty obvious.