How Bush Embraced Government, Reconnected with the Middle Class, Saved Conservatism, and Earned the Approval of Over 30% of the Country

David Brooks stands by his man:

Bush hasn't abandoned conservatism; he's modernized and saved it….Almost single-handedly, Bush reconnected with the positive and idealistic instincts of middle-class Americans. He did it by recasting conservatism more significantly than anyone had since Ronald Reagan. He rejected the prejudice that the private sector is good and the public sector is bad, and he tried to use government to encourage responsible citizenship and community service. "Government should help people improve their lives, not run their lives," Bush said. This is not the Government-Is-the-Problem philosophy of the mid-'90s, but the philosophy of a governing majority party in a country where people look to government to play a positive but not overbearing role in their lives.