Happy Happy

Well, Bush, so much for bi-partisanship, eh? And Seasons Greetings to you sad-sack, liberal, PC democrats! I'm sitting here trying to think of a single thing you've said or done--aside from a perfunctory remark in your victory speech--to acknowledge the fact that nearly half of all Americans rejected your policies on Election Day.

But that's all water under the bridge. It's Christmas now! Your screw-you revival of previously rejected judicial nominations just confirms what many of your critics have told us all along: that your political spin doctors have managed to persuade you to interpret your narrow majority as a "mandate", and that you plan to use it in the attempt to shove not just a conservative, but an extreme right-wing agenda down our collective throats.

I very much fear that you'll end up destroying this country that you claim to love. Yesterday's pronouncement of your abdication of responsibility on the environment--a virtual invitation to further commercial exploitation of this irreplaceable asset--was apparently not enough. Today we get news that your judicial agenda remains oblivious to the wishes of all but the most conservative amongst us.

No wonder you have your Dr. Frist and his senate allies attempting to subvert the fillbuster, to disempower the minority of the only weapon left to defend the values of half the good people of this country. We had a great bunch of people over last night, at our house, for a seasonal party, and the political talk--as you might have guessed--veered off in the liberal direction. You'd hardly be surprised to learn that almost all our guests left saying how much they appreciated having spent an evening with like-minded people. It was like a great relief for all of us, just to be heard speaking our minds aloud.

Anyway, one of our friends was arguing, at one point in the evening, that another four years of the Bush train-wreck would be sure to convince Americans of their wrong-headedness in re-electing you, and set them off in the direction of greater sanity. I have to admit that I was less optimistic, Bush--if you can call his position optimism. As you'll have noted in your daily reading of this diary, my own conviction is that this "superpower" is already following the way of all superpowers throughout history: through its own arrogance and its dependence on military might, it's cycling rapidly into decline. Like the Roman Empire. And, yes, like the British Empire. Everything you're doing, Bush, and allowing your people to do, is hastening that decline.

When I was growing up in England, the seasonal greeting for tomorrow was "Happy Christmas." Over here, you-all say "Merry." It has always been a puzzle to me, that the great nation that dominated twentieth century history should revert to the Dickensian nineteenth on this annual occasion. And, myself, I've always found it difficult to say "Merry." The word feels so… well, artificial to me. But then, alas, so does the festival these days. I guess I'm just an aging cynic, Bush. Anyway, if we don't talk tomorrow, Happy Christmas.