Going beyond the transition from frat boy to President

Jeff Jacoby writes that President Bush is the “Same man, different President”:

It was always an overstatement to say that 9/11 changed "everything," but it certainly changed Bush.

The man being sworn in today is a radical conservative with an audacious agenda, from overhauling Social Security to overhauling the Middle East. He is deeply polarizing, more loathed by Democrats than any Republican since Richard Nixon and more admired by Republicans than any GOP leader since Ronald Reagan.

The nonideological, can't-we-all-get-along slacker of 2000 has been replaced by an intense, uncompromising, undiplomatic hawk. The visionless son of the visionless father has become the nation's crusader in chief, a president determined to change the world -- and not terribly concerned if much of the world hates him while he goes about it.

Jacoby also explains to those who are still bitter over the election why Americans chose Bush over that other guy.