It's like the first faint glow of pale light after an endless night... the first thin beam of sunlight cutting through the clouds after a thunderstorm... the first calling of migrating geese in the spring after the long, dark winter (I'm writing from Wisconsin....).
And so there it is, on-line at the New York Times: Bush Begins Long Farewell on World Stage.
Read it again. Savor the words. Taste it. Remember how, over the last seven years, you wondered if the nightmare would ever end. Remember the state of torpor you were in after the 2004 election. Remember all the exasperated conversations you've had with your compatriots, over beers, on road trips, at the dinner table, the ten thousand times you've shaken your head in disbelief that our nation could ever have come to this. Shed one more tear for all that we have lost in this dismal decade. Give yourself a little pat on the back for persevering.
Then read the first lines of the article:
Winding down his presidency, George W. Bush is beginning his farewell tour on the world stage trailed by questions about how much clout he still wields.
Dwell on that lovely opening clause, and that closing point. Read on:
Air Force One will roar out of Andrews Air Force Base on Monday to whisk Bush to the first in a long-planned series of global goodbye events. After a brief stop in Ukraine, Bush stops in Romania to attend his last summit with NATO leaders.
"Global goodbye events." Sounds sweet on the tongue, doesn't it?
Enjoy the reporting on the goodbye events, and imagine the relief and behind-his-back joy that foreign leaders from around the world will feel:
In June, he will travel to Slovenia for his final summit with the European Union. He will attend his last summit of Group of Eight leaders of major industrial economies in Japan in July. He will go to Peru in November for his final meeting with Pacific Rim leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Hear the hopes from abroad:
"There seems to be a great deal of enthusiasm, particularly for (Barack) Obama but also Hillary (Rodham Clinton) on the other side of the Atlantic, that there's going to be some revitalization of the trans-Atlantic partnership and we start with a clean slate and a new chapter and all the rest," said Julianne Smith, Europe program director for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"I think a lot of these European countries have found a way to get past the dark shadows of 2003 and '04 when we had divides over Iraq and all the rest," she said. "And many of them are looking forward now to the next president in Washington and are already thinking about what the 2009 NATO summit will bring."
The. Next. President.
Say those words over again.
Then think of the reality behind all this. Like everything Bush and Co. have ever done, this will be so well scripted. It's time now to send him out, right on schedule, to try to put a little polish over the indelible tarnish. There will be vapid words, spoken in perfect Potemkin village photo-ops, and the White House will continue to plaster over an ugly legacy that it is too late to change. They will go through all the motions. Foreign dignitaries worldwide will make entirely predictable statements... then they will retire to their back offices after he's left, and they will say among themselves what they really think about the manifest failures of the Bush administration. They will hope for a fresh start, with a Next President who will be honest, respectful, dignified; who demonstrates emotional maturity and historical awareness; who has the capacity for critical thinking; who will help to bring together the global community to confront global challenges.
And we will share the hope.
Read the headline again. There will be more stupidities ahead in the next nine months. We all lose sleep wondering what nefarious things this administration has already planned for its finale, what unforgivable blunders and crimes and violations they have yet to inflict upon us, and upon the world.
But we are going to make it through this, folks. The sun is peeking over the horizon, the storm clouds are parting, the geese are winging their way north. Start planning your farewell parties.