Did you really expect him to be conciliatory and welcoming of change?

The article bleow shows Bush is still the same stubborn idiot and will no doubt remain that way until the day he dies.  Like the spoiled kid he has always been, he's going to want everything on HIS terms or he won't play.  I foresee some hard times ahead for the Dems in trying to break through his rigidity.  He's still insisting on reworking Social Security.  It ain't gonna' happen during his time in office, that's for sure.  He can't accept that, thanks to the awakened voting public, he's not only a lame duck but a dead duck.  He should just spend the next two years riding his bike and let the grownups try to clean up the messes he's made everywhere. 

The spin they're trying to put on his being an "activist" president for these next two years and that that "will be good for the country" just won't fly.  As usual, they are starting off by going on the offensive, already suggesting the Dems will be trying to shut down the government by pointing fingers at Bush.  Hmmm, so they're saying they won't accept accountability ever???    I don't theenk so.  The chickens are finally coming home to roost, and after the Dems raise the minimum wage for the average worker in this country and roll back the tax cuts for the rich, there will definitely be hearings to force accountability on those who have dodged it under a rubber stamp Congress.  The rubber stamps are gone.  A new day is dawning.  Now would be a good time for Howard Dean to once again yell,  "YEE HAW!!!!"  This time, I think I'll join him.  YEE HAW!!!!

From TIME Magazine:

Despite his dramatically weakened political position, the President plans to stand up to Democrats and challenge them to work with him on issues he has been promoting. But the opposition now has little reason to cave.

BY MIKE ALLEN/ WASHINGTON

President George W. Bush plans to respond to last night's Republican wipeout with a combination of conciliation and firmness that is unlikely to pacify an empowered and emboldened opposition. Aides say that beginning with an appearance in the East Room this afternoon, Bush will try to cast the blue wave as an opportunity rather than a defeat, and will vow to plunge ahead with transformative goals like reworking the Social Security system for fiscal longevity. "The same group of problems are there," White House Press Secretary Tony Snow tells TIME. "You just will have some different people in the leadership. We have an opportunity to have an activist last two years of this Presidency, which will be good for the country." Snow, who worked conservative talk radio for three hours yesterday afternoon, said Democrats now "have to decide whether they're going to be part of the solution, or are going to try to shut down the government for two years and point fingers at the President."

Snow said the President plans "an up-front focus on issues where we can get things done and on matters of significant shared interest, if not agreement." When Bush was Texas Governor and running for President back in 2000, supporters often pointed to his jocular and productive relations with Democrats in the legislature as signs that he could be what the campaign called "a uniter, not a divider."

"The accurate model for this White House will be the Texas experience, where he worked effectively with Democrats, to their mutual benefit," Snow said. But officials in both parties say that will be awfully hard to replicate in this atmosphere. The President does plan to have incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi over to the White House this week, but a broad charm offensive by White House officials is unlikely. "They're not in the mood for it, and they don't think it would work," said one close adviser.

One move that could buy the President good will with the Hill and the public would be the departure of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and many people close to Bush hope that happens sooner rather than later. "He has screwed the President," said a loyal member of the Bush team who rarely speaks so bluntly. The President said when asked last week that Rumsfeld would serve the rest of the term, but officials say Bush really could not have said anything else, and that is in no way a guarantee that Rumsfeld will still be running the Pentagon at noon on Jan. 20, 2009, when Bush's successor takes office.

Advisers expect a battle royale over the balance of powers if Democrats use their new subpoena power to try to conduct what the White House is already calling "witch hunts." Bush and Vice President Cheney have made the expansion of executive power one of their hallmarks, and advisers say they do not plan to give up any of the ground they have won without a fight all the way to the Supreme Court. "We're going to have a fierce constitutional showdown over the boundaries of power between the executive and legislative branches. The executive usually wins those battles, so we think we'll consolidate our gains."

The President stayed up until after 11 p.m., long past his usual bedtime, to watch as Republican dominion over Washington fractured and slipped away on a tide of voter anger about Iraq and dissatisfaction with the direction of the country. Both he and his inner circle had been publicly buoyant to the end, and aides had said the boss planned to make "lots" of congratulatory phone calls. Instead, he wound up talking to Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who barely kept his seat after taking some of the blame for the House leadership's handling of the page scandal. Reynolds was also chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, presiding over the party's return to the minority after 12 years in control of the House. By breakfast time today, Democrats had picked up 27 seats, and no Democratic incumbent had lost. Some Republican officials say they have little hope of retaining control of the Senate, which would require victories in the undecided Montana and Virginia races.

With the returns much worse than most in the White House had expected, officials revised their description of the internal mood. As it became clear in recent weeks that the House was probably lost, officials privately said they were "realistic." Last night, they said, the atmosphere was "businesslike." If the President can extend that to the Capitol, he will have delivered, six years later, on his campaign promise to unite rather than divide.