Help Me Make It Through The Year...

At this time next year, we will be into the first week of a new Presidency. The presidency of George W. Bush, and the terms of the Vice (and that word in this context has never resonated so, since Spiro Agnew's resignation in disgrace) President Cheney and of Condi Rice and all Bush's cronies, will be over at last.

Has any President done so much damage to our country in our lifetimes? Not that I can recall; even President Nixon, in hindsight, seems but the first slide down the slippery slope Bush has gleefully sent us all hurdling down, seemingly impervious himself. The Teflon President.

I've listened carefully to almost every other State of the Union address from our President, but I won't be tuning in to this one, I don't think. I've no more belly for his swill, really I don't.

In the face of disastrous economic straits, he's still intent that he will "make permanent his first-term tax cuts, which are due to expire in 2010," the destination of his first term squandering of our one-time surplus; hasn't he rewarded the wealthy enough? We're back to the Robber Baron era of the late 19th Century, and Bush and Cheney (who has completely redefined the power of the Vice Presidency, as we'll be able to more fully assess after he's gone) happily helped put us here.

A review of Bush's prior State of the Union speeches is a litany of obfuscation, diversion and deception, save for his "Madam Speaker" moment (balancing Cindy Sheehan's moment).

Here's an assessment of what has happened on this swaggering President's watch; "Waving Goodbye to Hegemony" says it all.

Consider how "...the distribution of power in the world has fundamentally altered over the two presidential terms of George W. Bush, both because of his policies and, more significant, despite them." (Special thanks to Jean-Marc Lofficier for bringing this to my attention this weekend; well worth reading.)

Thankfully, Halliburton is riding high -- oh, what a relief, amid such economic woe! -- to quote Liberace, Cheney and his crew will be laughing all the way to the bank, as they have every day since Cheney took (never before has that word in this political context rung so true) office.

We'll see what further damage Bush, Cheney, Rice et al can inflict and exact in their final year, and hope we'll all be here after their exit.

Have a Mopey Monday, maybe...