Are We Really Going Out With Him?

You’d think that after the recent collection of scandals, indictments, and poll numbers, the current administration might want to take on a more conciliatory approach.

Of course, the wonderful thing about them is that they never do the thing you’d think a reasonable person would do.

Now faced with the hobbling of his entire legislative agenda, Karl sat Bushie down and laid out the new game plan. And it was this:

Act even more like the kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. That’ll help.

Say nothing. Admit nothing. Deny, deny, deny. 9/11.

I would have thought that last Tuesday’s election results might have clued them in that the usual Republican tactics of leaping out from behind a curtain and saying “Boo!” have lost a little of their luster, even for die-hard conservatives.

Thank god it hasn’t. This all bodes well for the future of Democrats.

Instead, the big lunkhead dusted off his old cowboy hat and went on the attack. That’s right, out of traction, back in action!

You can hardly blame him. It all worked so well before.

Well, before polls showed that more than half of the country find him to be less than, er, trustworthy and capable.

Old favorites like “criticizing us only provides comfort to the enemy!” and “everybody had the same intelligence!” were trotted out to deafening silence.

I once told people that, at some point, people would begin to behave as if this administration never existed and start to distance themselves, to the point where even those that voted for it would never admit it. Bush boosters would deny they ever said a good word about him. A state of national amnesia would ensue.

At the moment, I don’t seem far wrong.

In my own heart, though, I knew that a part of me, regardless of how successful the Democrats might become, would never forgive the country for what it did.

I went out with someone for about a year who gradually began to tire of me. During this time, her best male friend started inviting us to hang out with a guy friend of his and, incredibly, I somehow missed the fact that she was laughing far too enthusiastically at this guy’s jokes and he was licking his chops every time he gazed at her.

Yeah, I know. Not too bright.

Sometimes the three of them would go out and I’d receive a glowing report on how neat he was and how much fun they’d all had.

Well, Nature took its course and eventually we parted ways. Some time after this, however, my future wife ran into this ex and they got onto the topic of this guy. Turns out that as soon as we were history, the two of them got together and enjoyed a short-lived relationship.

“He wasn’t very bright,” she told my wife-to-be, “but it was just nice to be with someone who wasn’t neurotic and depressed all the time, you know? Just a big, dumb guy who didn’t have much to say and didn’t think too much.”

Well, America, regardless of how all this turns out, I’m not sure I can forgive your fling with the big, dumb guy.

I can understand that you wanted a vacation from having to face up to some hard problems and that the prospect of painting the world in black and white was somehow comforting.

But playtime ends eventually. And the longer you ignore what needs to be done, the worse it will be when you eventually face up to it.

No, Lady Liberty. I’m glad the fling is over, but I can’t forgive you for it.

And History will be far less forgiving than I.