There are so may reasons to welcome 2008 - My kids graduate from the terrible eights (isn't that a well known difficult year?), there is a new season of The L Word starting and our website -- www.OurChart.com -- is doing great, the Democrats in Congress will focus on election year successes and that means that they will pass more progressive legislation, I will turn 50, and the Sex and the City movie will be released.
But it all pales in comparison to the overwhelming relief that this is George Bush's final year in office. Sure lots of damage can be done in a year. But suddenly every time he lays out a frighteningly bad policy or plan that requires time and support to implement, the odds grow that he will be stalled and blocked. And the time will blessedly trickle away on his tenure.
The last time I felt this way about a President it was Ronald Reagan. And that was because he let my friends die for seven years before he would utter the words AIDS or HIV. George Bush has his head in some equal sand. His veneer of compassionate conservatism was shattered long ago. He moves through each day ignoring the plight of Americans here and our service members abroad. As Hillary Clinton says so well, people with needs in this country today are invisible to George Bush. He won't soon be forgotten though. Because he has left a lot of damage in his wake. Damage that won't be easy to clean up. Damage in the Middle East, in our Supreme Court, in the environment, in our energy policy, in our education policy, and on and on.
But 2008 is the year we get started...again.