He got a majority of the popular vote for the first time since his father did it. He got, in fact, more votes than any presidential candidate in history. No one can rationally claim that he was “selected, not elected” this time. If John F. Kennedy was a legitimate president with a mandate for his policies, with only a plurality of the vote and a fraction of a percentage more than Nixon, so now is George Bush much more so, as a sitting president.

The deep divisions won’t end, of course, nor will the cries of “Halliburton,” “Chimp,” “Hitler,” “Ooooiiiillll” from the fever swamps, but let’s hope that the Dems will finally have figured out that they must confine that infection to the loony fringes of their party, instead of giving it honored box seats at their convention, if they ever hope to regain power. Let us hope also that we have finally fought the last battle of the Vietnam War, and that America finally won.