Something so many of us have longed for, lived for, these past seven years, has finally happened earlier today.
Trouble is, it didn't get a lot of attention, what with everyone within range of either a keyboard, television camera, and/or microphone breathlessly relating last night's results rolling in from Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island.
Nonetheless, let's be clear: George W. Bush became a lame duck President this afternoon.
Mister "Nineteen Percent And Holding Steady" confidently walked out onto the Rose Garden of the White House, in order to sell Americans on a most peculiar notion: "Change" actually means "More of the same, but with a different name on the door." He formally annointed Senator John McCain the effective head of their party, predicting a rosy electoral outcome on November 4.
Why, you may ask, would McCain be so eager to make nice in public with the man whose campaign viciously smeared him eight years back? Once more, political ambition trumps personal honor. As my father puts it on his Swungnotes blog, "John McCain really, really wants to be your President" -- see http://inegales.blogspot.com/... for his analysis on this.
Dismissing queries from those pesty journalists, about how he could in any way have a negative impact on the campaign, our President was confident: "They're not going to be voting for me. I've had my time in the Oval Office. It's not about me. I've done my bit."
Of course, he wouldn't be the man he is, the Leader of this Increasingly-Less-Free World, if he didn't get the important stuff wrong. This election is about nothing if it's not a direct referendum on eight years of 9/11, Slam Dunk, Curveball, Old Europe, Valerie Plame, Katrina, Halliburton, Blackwater, Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Terri Schiavo, Fredo, scary foreign people, scary gay newlyweds, $4-a-GALLON oil, Warrantless Wiretapping, sub-prime mortgages, and so forth. Intelligent design, indeed!
Obviously Bush hasn't surrendered the nuclear launch codes or the pardon powers---he remains in literal power. What's important to note is not that he's resigning, but that he's resigned. Turns out, whatever your religious sentiments may be, that the end truly is nigh---the end of Bush 43's political era, that is. He's yesterday's news, and this election is about Tomorrow.