Remember how many conservatives abandoned all ideological concerns because of their obsession with Clinton during the nineties? Naomi Klein worries that a similar phenomenon is occurring on the left as some leftists are abandoning their commitment to leftist first principles and long-term ideological goals because of their obsession with Bush. Klein believes that the left will regain its’ focus on larger issues if Kerry wins. Judging by what has happened to much of the right during the Bush years, the more likely result of a Kerry victory is that the left’s Bush hatred will be transformed into Kerry worship.

Both the left and the mainstream right are movements built around the goal of obtaining and using state power. It is inevitable that such movements decline into cults of personality, either worshiping or despising the current leader depending on whether he is on “our side.”