One of the most absurd theories being peddled to explain the victory of President Bush is that Senator Kerry “didn’t have the charisma” needed to sell his vision to the people. Charisma was the least of Mr. Kerry’s problems. Other Democratic strategists (the same ones who predicted a huge pro-Kerry youth vote) are scratching their heads over the Bush victory. They say they understand that voters think values are important. But, remember, the Kerry/Pelosi/ Schumer Democratic Party still thinks their values are squarely in the mainstream.

Let this be clear: This election is a reaffirmation of Ronald Reagan – his hopefulness, his vision, and his adherence to the conservative values that rescued the Republican Party from its political exile. After the celebrating, Mr. Bush must get down to the hard work of achieving conservative goals. Doing this will expand the Republican majority not shrink it. As we beat back the terror threat around the globe, Mr. Bush needs to offer further support for the culture of life, advance meaningful tax reform, and enforce our national borders for cultural and security reasons.

Over the past year, we saw the political left throw everything it had against President Bush – ginned up talk of a military draft, lies about what happened at Tora Bora, phony National Guard documents, even blame for flu shot shortages.

The elites in the “old news industry,” academia, Hollywood, the Soros’s billionaires club, and the European Union were all pushing for Mr. Kerry all the way. With all this, the Democrats still couldn’t win. James Carville conceded that “the party needs to reassess where it is….They’re going to asking themselves from tough questions.” In “Shut Up & Sing,” I wrote about the dynamic that we saw play in this election – the elites versus Americans. In the end, the latter will always win out.

They find inspiration in Al Franken. We find inspiration in Tommy Franks. They admire Michael Moore. We admire Mel Gibson. We believe in partial privatization of Social Security. They believe in partial birth abortion. They think, “In Kofi we Trust.” We think, “In God We Trust.” They pray for an opening at Spago. We pray for an opening in heaven.

Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” should be “The Voters.” They spoke. Are the elites listening?

Ms. Ingraham is a nationally syndicated radio host with Talk Radio Network and author of “Shut Up & Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics and the U. N. Are Subverting America.”