THE EIGHT YEAR ONE-TERMER: Earlier

THE EIGHT YEAR ONE-TERMER: Earlier today (scroll down), I quoted Dick Morris, who said Bill Clinton “was a one-term president who lived in the White House for eight years”. Clinton’s inaction on terrorism during the second term will likely cost the Democrats the election in 2004, Donald Lambro writes:

The Democrats’ biggest challenge in 2004: Convince independent and swing voters that their party can protect the United States.
That’s going to be a hard, if not impossible, sell.

Polls show that Americans, by margins of 40 percent or more, trust President Bush and Republicans more than the Democrats to keep our nation safe from terrorism and other security threats. Yet the message coming from Democrats (including most of the party’s presidential candidates) is one of weakness, timidity and ambivalence on the most politically pivotal issue of our times.

Intense criticism is being heard lately from Democratic strategists and a few leaders