The oaf of office

To the editor: I have always kept a close eye on affairs of state. Years before the term was coined, I was, no question about it, a “political junkie”. It all started with Watergate. Richard M. Nixon resigned in disgrace exactly one week before my sixteenth birthday. When it was all over, I felt sort of let down in an odd way. At the time I remember thinking that it would never again get as interesting as Watergate. I was wrong. In 1974, in my wildest dreams, I could never have forseen a walking, talking catastrophe named George W. Bush. A year before the election of 2000, Bush’s corruption, incompetence and mind-numbing stupidity were a matter of public record. Had most of us bothered to read Molly Ivins’ excellent 1999 book, “Shrub: The Short, Happy Political Life of George W. Bush”, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today. Interpreting the election of this moron as a disaster for the USA was such a no-brainer that in December of 2000, a full month before he even took the oath of office, I predicted on the radio that his administration would end in impeachment. Fortunately someone taped that particular broadcast for me. On the very last day of the Bush presidency, I’ll be playing that tape to everybody. For someone like me, who gets positively giddy watching the corrupt fall of their own weight, flat on their faces, this White House - really the entire political climate in Washington - is the gift that keeps giving. So look on the bright side of things, kids! Sure, the damage that is being done to our once-great country by this disgustingly out-of-touch administration is incalculable. Sure, our great grandchildren, who will never even know our names, will still be paying for the wrecklessness and greed of our generation. Sure, we’ll be living with the mistakes of a brain-dead, hideously dumbed-down electorate for the rest of our natural lives. And yet with all of that (and much more) taken into consideration, you’ve got to admit this one, undeniable fact: In terms of pure “stupidity as entertainment” it just doesn’t get any better than this. It really doesn’t. Pray for peace. Tom Degan Goshen, NY