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State of a changed union: Bush's five years
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Budding civic engagement
In retrospect, he says, the moment was lost - almost. When he looks at data from UCLA's annual nationwide survey of college freshmen and the University of Michigan's annual survey of high school seniors, he sees a common thread: since 9/11, growing interest in public affairs.
"We'll have to wait some years to see if this budding civic engagement blossoms, but it could prove to be the largest civic shift in the past half-century," Putnam concluded in a column he co-authored last September.
Pollster Zogby has also tapped into some burgeoning social trends among Americans. First, there's what he calls "the rise of the global citizen." Among today's 18-to-25-year-olds, he is seeing more interest in global music, and a more multilateral view of the US's place in the world. This age cohort, along with the oldest Americans, is the most antiwar.
Zogby is also seeing the beginnings of a redefinition of the American dream, away from material things to the pursuit of spiritual fulfillment. Some of the "gross spending habits of the past seem to be subsiding - some out of sheer necessity, some out of a sense of, 'What does this get me in the end, anyway?" he says.
Bush's bold direction
Regardless of political outlook, observers of Bush agree on one point: Well before 9/11, the president clearly planned to take the country in a bold new direction. He pulled away from international treaties, pursued major tax cuts and a more market-based approach to environmental regulation, and, in defiance of traditional Republican orthodoxy, sought to put a strong federal stamp on education.
The 9/11 attacks emboldened Bush further still. Not only did he launch wars in two countries, he also persisted in cutting taxes, a first for wartime. The war on terror has also paved the way for a rigorous assertion of executive-branch power. In his admiring new book, "Rebel-in-Chief: How George W. Bush Is Redefining the Conservative Movement and Transforming America" conservative commentator Fred Barnes writes that the label "big-government conservative" does not suffice.
"In truth, his view of government is Hamiltonian: it's a valuable tool to achieve security, prosperity, and the common good," Mr. Barnes writes, noting that, like other bold, controversial presidents, such as Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, Bush is indeed polarizing.
To some liberal observers, whether Bush wants the nation polarized is beside the point; what matters is whether it helps him achieve his goals. "It's a means to an end," says Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University. He likens Bush's approach to that of Vice President Spiro Agnew, who promoted "positive polarization" during the Vietnam War to boost support and isolate opponents.
In the end, Bush supporters are getting more than they bargained for in 2000, Professor Gitlin says. "His voters wanted a 'reformer with results.' They weren't up for a big 90 degree bend in American history."
But that appears to be what the nation is getting.
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