Do you trust adults or children?

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | In the 1980s, when analyzing gender differences was the rage, the armchair shrinks decided that Republicans were the "daddy" party and the Democrats the "mommy" alternative.

The characterization had as much to do with the GOP's toughness on defense and crime and the Democrats' less confrontational, nurturing agenda as it did the gender gap in voting.

But times have changed, and President Bush's State of the Union speech and the Democratic reaction cap a period since the November that has produced a new stereotype to replace the old one.

The Republicans are now the adults. Democrats are the children.

The rude and almost unprecedented behavior of many Democrats during the president's speech is symbolic of their petulant mentality that in the real world would get kids sent to bed without supper.

It was among a series of embarrassing moments such as losing presidential candidate John Kerry, within hours of Iraqis braving suicide bombers to vote, in a fair imitation of a teenage hissy fit, downplaying the remarkable success of the Iraqi election.

Our election is over, John. Acknowledging that Bush's plan for Iraq might not be the disaster you claimed won't cost you any votes. It is OK to applaud a good thing, even if it reflects well on Bush.

But, most of all, the Democrats' decision to deny reality stamps them as children. Interrupting Bush's speech with shouts of "NO" as he described Social Security's deteriorating finances was symbolic.

If Democrats want to oppose Bush's plan, that's their prerogative. But then they must offer their own solution. Maybe they want to raise taxes (again) or cut benefits. But don't deny the reality that, within 13 years, the nation's retirement system will have a negative cash flow.

Adults deal with the real world. Children deny reality and change the subject.

Minutes after Bush announced he would keep spending increases below the inflation rate to halve the deficit by 2009, Democratic lawmakers were already complaining. While smaller spending increases are not cuts, it was the Democrats who rightly complained during the recent campaign about that deficit and dared Bush to reduce it.

Adults know you can't cut the budget without cutting the budget.

Love him or hate him, you've got to give this president points for taking on the tough ones.

The Democratic response to the State of the Union is the latest example of their rebuke to the rest of us who believe that, with the election over, it is time to let the winners govern.

That's not to say that Democrats have no legitimate role in governing, Of course they do, but their approach is crucial.

The stamping-their-feet mentality when they don't get their way is the problem. Debate White House policies and appointments all they want. But don't use parliamentary tactics to deny an up-or-down vote as they have on too many of Bush's judicial appointments.

This mentality is about to be institutionalized by the virtual certainty that Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, whose ill temper was demonstrated for all to see in Iowa 13 months ago, will become the head of the Democratic Party.

Just because the Democrats lost an election they thought they had won, and are mad at the TV networks for raising their hopes with flawed exit polls, there is no reason to take out their anger on the rest of us.

Democrats were not victimized in Ohio, despite their theatrics. They were out-voted. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland found that claims that black voting was suppressed by denying heavily African-American precincts sufficient voting machines were a myth. In crucial Cuyahoga County, all precincts, white and black, got one machine for every 117 registered voters.

Bush's willingness to seek out the most contentious problems for political combat, because they are the most serious ones the country faces, is a stark contrast with his predecessor during the second term.

Bill Clinton was much higher in the polls, even during the depth of the scandals about his personal life, than Bush is today. But Clinton was an incrementalist, polling and focus-grouping issues to death, then offering heavily nuanced proposals that for the most part skirted, rather than confronted, the major issues of his day.

Bush is taking on the big stuff. Adults deal with reality.

The question Democrats must answer, during at least the next two years when they have control of neither the White House nor Congress, is whether trying to rebuild their political fortunes requires them to become the obstructionist party.

This is a serious question, and those who want to be treated as adults ought to think seriously about their answer.

Peter A. Brown is an editorial page columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. Comment by clicking here.

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