The elections of 1948 and 2004 resemble each other in many ways. But there are deeper analogies in play too. The plain-spoken moralist for whom religion matters greatly, the common man who seems too small for the presidency but is confronted in office by a cataclysm that re-creates him; who rises to the challenge and transcends it; who faces a tough re-election battle and wins it; who redefines the nation's mission in the world and emerges a hero--that is a traditional American story. It is Lincoln's story. ... No president matches Lincoln's greatness, but in modern times this was Harry Truman's story; and today it is George W. Bush's also.

Yet the greatest achievement, now as in '48, is the American people's. America really doesn't give a damn what Europe or the New York Times or Hollywood or the worldwide professoriate has to say. It tries hard to do right, and more often than not it succeeds.