After Bush's speech this week, I saw a poignant photo of him returning to the Oval Office.
In the foreground, the podium he just left. He's walking alone on the sidewalk - his posture seems burdened.
As much as I dislike the man's policies, and though his character rubs me the wrong way almost all the time, he's still a human being who's done his best. I suspect he feels the weight of failure, as the economy crashes, as the dollar falls, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan grind on, as his own Republican Party distances itself from his government and so many key aids and officials have bailed out.
He's a man all alone.
What started with such vigor and arrogance now ends in a whimper.
Yes, his policies have failed.
Though I wonder whose policies they were. I've long carried the suspicion that Bush was manipulated by a host of dark characters - neo-cons and theo-cons - God and Empire folks who used Bush to promote economic and international policies that have brought this great nation to its knees.
I wonder if he feels used.
