He's Leaving. Really.

[SuperTrouper]

Tonight President George W. Bush bids adieu to the American people.

Gail Collins

Excerpts:

The man has been saying goodbye for so long, he’s come to resemble one of those reconstituted rock bands that have been on a farewell tour since 1982. We had exit interviews by the carload and then a final press conference on Monday, in which he reminisced about his arrival on the national stage in 2000. “Just seemed like yesterday,” he said.

I think I speak for the entire nation when I say that the way this transition has been dragging on, even yesterday does not seem like yesterday. And the last time George W. Bush did not factor into our lives feels like around 1066.

So far, the Bush farewell appearances have not drawn a lot of rave reviews. (Most striking, perhaps, was a critique of that final press conference from Ted Anthony of The Associated Press: “It all felt strangely intimate and, occasionally, uncomfortable, in the manner of seeing a plumber wearing jeans that ride too low.”) A Gallup poll did find that his approval rating had risen slightly since they began, but this was probably due to enthusiasm for the part about his going away.

The White House has promised that in his final address, the president will be joined by a small group of everyday American heroes, which means that the only person on stage with a history of failing to perform well in moments of stress will be the main speaker.

If there’s any suspense about the speech it is how many times Bush will use the word “freedom,” which popped up 27 times in his relatively brief second inaugural. The man who gave us Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Freedom Agenda, the USA Freedom Corps and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has so thoroughly debased one of the most profound concepts in our national vocabulary that it’s getting hard to hear it used without remembering Janis Joplin’s line about how freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.

Full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15collins.html?_r=1&hp

[EraOfResponsibility]

1. darnit you beat me to it! LOL

[janx]

2. But WHEN is he leaving?

I want to see it? WHEN? The 19th? The 20th?

[jwirr]

3. What if any role does he play in the inauguration? If he is not needed

it would be fine with me if he left now.

[alsame]

4. I think it's traditional for the outgoing President to escort the

PE to the inauguration. That should be the last we see of him. Ever.

[EraOfResponsibility]

5. Bush will be at the Inauguration ceremony

After Obama gives his speech, he will escort The Bushes out of the city (To Andrews somewhere, I don't know)

[ronnykmarshall]

7. I think the Obama's escort the Bush's to a helicopter

and then they will fly over to Andrews and get the hell out of town.

[SuperTrouper]

10. and out of our lives

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. George who?

good riddance to bad rubbish

[FirstLight]

8. what I want to see...

I the Obamas walking into the WH and then bush catching air out the front door, Obama brushing his hands together, and then the door slamming.... as he makes his way, bruised and limping down the driveway, the police are waiting at the end of the drive, not to escort him, but to give him a ride to prison!


ahhh, fantasies!

[SheilaT]

9. The outgoing President always attends

the inaugural of the new one. I read some years back that it is during that time the former President's things are packed up and the new President's things unpacked. The one leaves his home exactly as it was for the previous term, then heads off to where ever, and the new President walks into that home with all of his stuff now in place.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. This guy fucks up everything he does...who imagined he could LEAVE gracefully?

:shrug:

"To leave," is, after all, a verb, an action, which is to say, something else for him to fuck up.

[crimsonblue]

12. Are you surprised by this?

We've known for 4 years that he would be leaving on Tuesday.

[onenote]

13. some here say they won't be convinced he's really leaving until the 20th

I don't know if these same people think that the earth is flat, but the views are comparable.

[crimsonblue]

14. The earth isn't flat....

It is bowl shaped. That accounts for the wind patterns and sun movement. Duh!