It's been pointed out that the second-most common word in President Bush's convention address was "will"--not a good sign for an incumbent. Still, as David Brooks pointed out (here), what nobody noticed was that Bush's speech had a lot about social programs. I thought this was interesting, because it made Bush sound like a Democrat, and Kerry's speech was so Republican.

Bush proposes to build community health centers, expand AmeriCorps, increase the funds for Pell Grants, create job retraining accounts, offer tax credits for hybrid cars, help lower-income families get health savings accounts, dedicate $40 billion to wetlands preservation, and on and on and on. This is an activist posture. As Karen Hughes said on PBS on Thursday evening, "This is not the grinchy old 'Let's abolish the Department of Education or shut down the government' conservatism of the past."