How bad could it get? Who knew?

This afternoon I looked through some of my old blogs relating to the Bush administration. I knew as soon as I did it that it was a big, fat, depressing mistake. Below is my blog from Nov. 8, 2006, the day after the midterm elections. What it foresaw was rosy, compared to where the nation stands on Oct. 5, 2008. We're not behind 150-14. We're behind a trillion to nothing. Here's the blog.

"The Tuesday elections have proven to be a repudiation of George W. Bush and his administration. Democratic and independent candidates carried the day, and Republicans no longer possess a conservative majority in Congress.

"Either way, the nation was going to lose. We’ve lost already, and it’s only the first days after Election Day. Bush has a team that knows how to get around Congress, if it has to. If the Bush team doesn’t have a Republican Congress to 'work with,' then the team will work without Congress. Loss of a Republican congressional majority has been a repudiation, but only a vocal one. Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gonzales will continue on their same path, maybe with more machete work to do on balances of power put in place in 1789, but continuing all the same.

"It is this inevitability that is so depressing. It’s like the nation is behind, 100-0, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, there’s no mercy rule, and nobody can leave until the fat lady sings. If the Congress had remained Republican-controlled after the elections, who knows what the final score might have been? Now that Republicans have lost control – I don’t say, 'Democrats have gained control,' because it’s not that black-and-white (or red-and-blue) – but now that Republicans have lost control, the final score, when Bush is finally carried off the field in 2008, may be 150-14.

"Surely a non-Republican Congress can scratch out a couple of scores in two years, but most of the drives won’t get inside the 40-yard line, against an opponent that knows how to use the rules so well.

"But who cares? What good are 14 points in the last quarter of a game that was over at the half? In the Congressional locker room, what will the coach say? 'Folks, you did your best.' Well, rah rah rah. The stories in the morning papers, when the gun finally sounds in 2008, will be about which nation is bloodied the worst, Iraq or America.

"And all we can do is sit in the stands and watch. Can’t leave, can’t get away, can’t go home and fix a martini and turn on the TV and try to forget. Wait til next year? Sheesh. Who wants to watch 2007 in America?

"I have nothing against Republicans, or Republican or conservative philosophy and ideology, or honest Republican elected representatives, or evangelical Christians gay or straight, and I am not energized by the prospects of a party that counts John Kerry among its leaders. I am just an American, sitting in the stands, rooting for a country that is behind 100-0 with a full quarter left to go. Remember Andy Griffith’s funny monologue, 'What it was, was football'? A well-oiled fellow next to Andy in the stands slaps him on the shoulder and says, 'Buddy, have a drink,' only Andy says, 'drank.' To you, my seatmates in this stadium from hell, I slap you on the shoulder and say, 'Buddy, have a drank. Have several.' "

One thing has changed, this afternoon, from that November day two years ago. I am energized by the prospects of a party that has made Barack Obama its candidate for president. I think he has the makings of a patient leader and, equally important, a coach who knows the value of values, and who teaches that principles are principal. God knows we face a rebuilding program.