The Last Word on George Bush courtesy of MAUREEN DOWD & The Economist
I am getting ready to write a few words on the Obama inauguration. I don’t want to waste more words on George Bush, Jr. So I am letting Maureen Dowd write the final words on him.
The Long, Lame Goodbye
As Barack Obama got to town, one of the first things he did was seek the counsel of past presidents, including George Bush senior.
As W. was leaving town, one of the last things he did was explain why he never sought the counsel of his father on issues that his father knew intimately, like Iraq and Saddam.
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Five Living Presidents: What distinguishes them…
Look at this picture carefully. What distinguishes the current (Bush junior) and the future president (Obama) from the ex presidents? The little America pin on their jackets. Apparently the ex-presidents are not worried that anyone would question their patriotism.
Oh, Liza… John Lahr is too sharp for you
Just read John Lahr’s review of Liza Minelli’s new show “MORE ABOUT ME” in the New Yorker. I felt bad for Liza because the review is almost too penetrating. But it is a joy for the reading public.
Liza Minnelli
Continue ReadingWhat George Bush learned during his Presidency
Kimberly Strassel: I ask the president what he’s learned from his time in office—not from a policy perspective, but as a person. His answer is unsurprising from a man who has always talked openly of his faith—though that, too, has earned him criticism.
“I’ve learned that God is good. All the time.”
PM: Hallelujah. We paid a very heavy price to afford Georgie this personal learning experience. The very fact that Georgie became president is strong evidence that God sometimes does not pay attention. 
Historians will have to call in an army of psychologists to figure Bush’s brain out. Read the full he full Interview in the Wall Street Journal, click on more.
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The Power is Shifting
I remember reading a reminiscence either by President Truman or Eisenhower about the remarkable change they felt the day after they handed over the presidency: While the day before everyone was most interested in them, no one wanted now wanted to see them. The office has the charisma, not they as individuals. Democracy is about the peaceful handing over of power. George Bush is getting a first strong taste of what every president seems to go through. The NY Times reports:
In an effort to inject confidence into the quavering financial markets, Mr. Obama made certain that his first formal cabinet announcement dealt with the economy, not, as is often the case with national security or diplomacy. In announcing the nominations of Mr. Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, and Mr. Summers, a Harvard economist, Mr. Obama sent a signal that he was set to pursue aggressive, yet centrist policies, in crafting moves to help jump-start the economy. He was stretching his economic announcement into a two-day affair, planning another news conference Tuesday to present the rest of his team.
The televised news conference, which came shortly after President Bush made brief remarks at the Treasury Department with Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., created a stark image of the transfer of power that is under way in Washington. Mr. Obama and his new team arrived in a room of dozens of reporters, while Mr. Bush stood nearly alone on the steps of the Treasury Department.
William Kristol changes his tune after the election
Some conservative commentators had already swung to Obama before the election, but not so William Kristol. Unlike William Safire whose conservative columns I found rewarding to read, Kristol struck me as the mouthpiece of Dick Chenney. His transformation for this reason is all the more stunning. Pollster have long demonstrated that after an election suddenly more people claim that they have voted for the winner than is mathematically possible. Kristol did not vote for Obama, but he sure seems to be pulled by the same psychological forces that make us want to be on the side of the winner.
From the Land of Lincoln: Mr. Obama goes to Washington
The following text is President-elect Barack Obama
The Transformation
Michael Soklove and Frank Rich of the New York Times analyze how Obama achieved his victory.
THE NATION: The Transformation By MICHAEL SOKOLOVE (NY Times)
Early on Election Day morning in the Philadelphia suburb of Levittown, Pa., Joe Sinitski, 48, stood in a long line inside a school gymnasium, inching his way toward three blue-curtained voting machines. He wore jeans, a sweatshirt and a National Rifle Association baseball cap. He said he would vote for Barack Obama, a choice that some months earlier he could not have imagined.
We make and watch history: President Obama
At 8pm when the polls closed in California, I was glued in front of my TV screen watching Charles Gibson. Just like many of the other Obama supporters in Grant Park and everywhere around the country, tears rolled down my cheeks when Gibson announced:
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