State of the Union

How about weak and bleak? How about debased, discredited, and degraded?

Judging by the last two years, the next two years are going to be hellish.

In his 2nd Inaugural Address in January 2005, Bush never uttered the word Iraq once. Can you believe it? Tonight it will be different.

The Constitution, of course, doesn't require him to personally him to deliver a SOTU every year, only

. . . from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

He doesn't even have to appear before Congress, but could even get by mailing or phoning his SOTU in. But he will appear before our Congress, Nation and world and tell us of his pride in his performance. Plan on feeling embarrassed.

We have a president who is proud of his Bush Doctrine of preventive war: a doctrine which the world thought was thoroughly discredited, dead and buried among the ashes of the 20th century. Bush has opened the 20th century with it. It is alien to the American experience and self-image. No matter. Thanks to this moron and my inattentive fellow Americans who elected him, we Americans have been branded and stigmatized as 'aggressor', 'imperialist' and 'international bully'.

In doubt? Look at BBC's Poll released today. While the world prefers American leadership to the leadership of any other single country, (China, Russia, Japan, Germany, or England), the majority of those polled (26,000 people in 25 countries) felt America misleads itself and misleads the world.

• On Iraq
• On Torture
• On Guantanamo detainees
• On the Israel-Hezbollah war
• On Iran's nuclear program
• On North Korea's nuclear program.
• On global warming.

But Bush's words will be consoling and protective. He has sheltered the current generation of Americans from bearing the costs of this ruinous crusade, deferring the bill for future generations who did not vote for him. Except for our American military personnel and their families, Bush's current electorate has not sacrificed. Oh and, as he shared in last week's News Hour:

I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night. I mean, we've got a fantastic economy here in the United States, but yet, when you think about the psychology of the country, it is somewhat down because of this war.

With a President who unabashedly believes in the doctrine of preventive war, who stands behind an Attorney General who believes in torture and doesn't believe in habeas corpus, our union is in a state of deferred maintenance in extremis. But not so much (yet) that it couldn't be repaired by a compassionate resignation speech tonight.

That's what I am counting on for my peace of mind.