Farewell to Georgie!!

George Bush, the 43rd President of the United States gave his farewell address last night. I was on the phone with my mom who said (a la Richard Nixon) that we'll miss GWB once he's gone because we won't have anyone to scapegoat anymore.

Now I tend to agree with my mother on a lot of political issues. As a Conservative, I think she offers a perspective that I wouldn't often consider, and in doing so she usually opens up my opinions on a topic to include both the left and the right. But I have to say that when you look at Georgie's farewell speech and compare it to Clinton's in 2001 you are reminded of two things: 1) the power of the collective memory - Nixon is still as despised as ever, Clinton loved, for example - and of course 2) the level of severity with which Bush screwed up. Now I'm typically not a Bush-basher. I actually think he's a brilliant politician and a brilliant strategist (in accomplishing his own goals mind you... He just seems bad at it if your goals differ from his). But every 4 years in January, we have a chance to look back, and Bush's speech last night, when compared to Clinton's assurance in 2001 that if we stayed on his economic course we would be debt free by the end of the decade (2009), really silenced most of my positive compliments for George Bush. He was a great politician, but a terrible President and he will not be missed.

George Bush, 2009, explaining how things went south:

Bill Clinton, 2001, explaining how things can keep going well: