BUSH'S PSEUDO-LIBERALISM. For my money, the most noteworthy thing about last night's speech was the extent to which it continued a trend we've been watching for five years now -- George W. Bush's near-total abandonment of conservative ideology as an effective rhetorical tool. If you take Bush at his word (which you shouldn't, but that's another story) he believes that the federal government has a responsibility to ensure that all Americans have access to health care, good schools for their children, security in retirement, and protection against poverty. He thinks a responsible energy policy should encourage "conservation, alternative sources . . . cut power plant pollution and improve the health of our citizens."

This, needless to say, is what liberals believe. It's a mistake to caricature conservatives as thinking that people should get sick, die, and spend their years poor, miserable, ignorant, and choked by pollution. But it's not a caricature to say that American conservatism has always been defined by a belief that preventing this stuff isn't the responsibility of the federal government. The states, or individual intiative, or private charity, or technological growth, or anything else under the sun -- anything but the federal government -- are supposed to accomplish these goals. The fact that Bush has abandoned that worldview (and if you think 'twas ever thus, I encourage you to look at Ronald Reagan's speeches and you'll see otherwise) seems to indicate that even as Republicans have become politically dominant, their ideology has become a spent force that their most successful leaders thinks lacks appeal to the public.