The Democrats never had any principles worth speaking of. They've always been a party of pragmatic careerists since their inception. The FDR-New Deal episode was just that, an extraordinary exception to the rule. It is not likely to happen again, judging from present performance over the last 20 years.
The Dems don't oppose because they _want_ Bush to succeed. That is because they are deeply frightened by the myrid of economic and foreign policy problems beseiging US global hegemony. They have no plan, they have no clue what to do.
The neocons behind Bush think they're pulling a 'preventive' Reagan II. Imagine that Reagan became president, not in 1980, but in 1970, at the beginning of the last decade-long political-economic crisis of US hegemony (actually, Reagan became Governor of California in 1968). Recall that neoconservativism first developed in reaction to the radicalism of "the Sixties". What the neocons wat to prevent is a _renewed_ growth of radicalism in the face of the present crisis, in an attempt to 'not make the same mistake twice'. That's the real political meaning of 'prevention'.
The Democrats helped Reaganism along in the whenever it was politically possible back in the Eighties. That's because, under Carter, they proved they had no solution to the problems of the Seventies. They are doing the same now. They are more than happy to hand the mess over to Bush.
The New Deal Democrats cut their teeth on their experiences in the Wilson Administration during WWI. That is what prepared them to act under the New Deal reform regime. Today's Democrats have no such reform experience. Their background is groveling before Reaganism. We cannot be surprised if they continue on the basis of the only politics they've even known in recent times.
-- /**********************************************************************/ Brad Mayer Oakland, CA
-- /**********************************************************************/ Brad Mayer Technical Support Engineer, Sun One DCE Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Sun One Tools Direct: (510) 869-3466 Fax: (510) 869-3400 Email: bradley.mayer at sun.com /***********************************************************************/