So Long for Now Mr. Bush

Oh Lord, the Republican Convention is here? How much sleep will I miss to make sure I catch all the speeches, listen to all the pundits and experts and people who want to vouch for Sarah Palin's strong moral code, or assure us that John McCain will not freak out his first week in office and order a complete carpet bombing of North Vietnam? When is this election going to end? Is it going to end? Will there be a replay of 2000; where it's so close we get to have a new fall sitcom about it?

And just when I expect to see a seance to draw in the spirit of Ronald Reagan, a familiar face pops up on the screen: that ol' whimsical drawl, the melancholy gaze of a man who is desperate to get back to his home and watch 4 more months melt off the calendar. George W. Bush what kept you?

The President has been scarce this last year and a half, for a sitting President anyway, and to be honest I was happy to see the old boy speaking from the White House on a big video screen in Minneapolis.

The Republican's have asked George to keep a low profile these days so that he doesn't remind anyone of which ticket he stumbled into the White House on, and of course the Democrats have done their best to keep the legacy of the Bush Administration right in every one's face just in case anyone did forget that he was a Republican right down to his red cowboy boots.

But now here he was at the Republican Convention; Opening Night, well, delayed Opening Night. The rumor was that marksmen would be hidden in the rafters with pellet guns to wing him in the shoulder should his speech veer off into some kind of mad plea defending his eight year reign, but ultimately it was decided that it would be better to send a message along on the big screen, where "technical difficulties" could always arise should the speech get, weird.

George told us that John McCain was "ready to lead", which is good because if he isn't at 72 he probably never will be. But the sight of him at the podium, with the Presidential seal reminded me that we've only got about five more months of George to take in before he retires down to Crawford, Texas: riding around on his horses, chopping fire wood, and playing Tom Clancy games on Xbox 360.

So is that it? No more GW? Sure we'll have the YouTube clips, the historical documentaries, even a feature film, but will there be no more George Bush sightings after January 20, 2009? There's vague gossip on the Internet that he is actually enrolled in a Public Speaking class at Northeast Texas Community College, perhaps in hopes that a few colleges and universities along the way will throw some serious money at him to address graduating classes. But even more likely some big corporation will snatch him right up and give him an advisory position where occasionally he can pop up and do some public relations.

Or who knows, maybe he'll find a cause that suits him, maybe he can team up with Rudy Giuliani or even John Kerry and tour the country re-enacting "Who's on First?" to raise money for Katrina victims.

I know we still have 4 months of George Bush left, but I kind of miss him already.