Bill Clinton had just defeated George Bush for the Presidency of the United States, and, as WFB puts it, "I want to consult with my colleagues about what happened and what is its meaning, and to speculate whether America is doomed to hellfire for life everlasting." A collegial and informative conversation, starting with the tax issue. Messrs. Brookhiser and O'Sullivan both date the unraveling of the Bush Administration to the 1990 budget deal--partly because, as Mr. Brookhiser puts it, "the tax policies that they decided on were bad and contributed to lengthening the recession"; partly because, as Mr. O'Sullivan puts it, "you couldn't trust Bush--not for any discreditable reason of personal character, but because [of] the tax issue ... 'Read my lips. No new taxes,' as a lot of people have pointed out, is saying, 'Look, this isn't just another politician's promise. I really mean it.' So when you break that pledge and when you then in addition go on to say, 'Read my lips'--in other words, 'I'm treating your astonishment, shock, and disappointment with contempt'--I think at that point he lost his grip on the character and trust question. He never regained it."