And Now The End Is Near.

And now the end is near and so I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear. I'll state my case of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full. I've traveled each and every highway and more, much more than this. I did it my way.
Old Blue Eyes must have had George Walker Bush on his mind when he sang My Way or maybe he was thinking of Richard Nixon. Both Bush and Nixon had several of the regrets that Frank sang about. In Richard Nixon's farewell address he had to convince us all that he was not a crook. He was certainly dishonest,an abuser of the Office of the Presidency and truth was surly not his shinning suit but a crook he was not. President Bush on the other hand is too honest to be a crook but his over confidence and arrogance was in full view for the last eight years. In President Bush's farewell address he spoke about his disappointments of not finding weapons of mass destruction and the atrocities at the Abu Ghraib prison, blaming the failures on bad information. He did not think it was his fault things turned out as they did but it was a disappointment just the same. I don't know about you but I think both of those issues were giant mistakes not disappointments. A disappointment is when the Dallas Cowboys don't go to the Super Bowl not when you try to drown the enemy or dig up half of Iraq looking for buried treasurer and come up empty handed.
In a few days a historic Presidency begins and a tarnished Presidency ends. The inauguration of Barack Obama can not come soon enough for the vast majority of Americans. Our new President begins with high hopes, goodwill and a never ending list of problems stacked high on the Oval Office desk left there by a president who was determined to do things his way.
How will George Bush be ranked as a President? We won't know the answer to that question for two or three decades but if history is any indication, his presidency will get upgraded over time just as many Presidencies do. The last verse of the song "My Way" describes George Bush perfectly so I'll let Old Blue Eyes sign off this post with his lyrics.
For what is a man, what has he got?
If not for himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The records shows I took the blows;
And did it my way!