There's setting the bar low, then there's changing the game entirely.
Earlier this week, the administration tried again to justify its astonishing veto of the popular SCHIP bill. Although the bipartisan bill will make healthcare benefits available to about 10 million children, the White House thinks we would be helping the wrong kids.
Now I confess that when we're talking about making sure children can get routine check ups, dental care and emergency medical treatment, I am not sure how to identify the right kids from the wrong.
However, if you share the president's belief that we should only consider protecting the health of the children at the very, very bottom, there's a silver lining. According to the official White House Oct. 23 press release on the SCHIP veto, "Over half the families in America are not poor."
That's right. There's a high standard for you.
Straight from the folks who thought Brownie did "a heck of a job," we now can take comfort in the fact that according to the White House, "There are a lot of things you can say about half the families in America. Half of them aren't poor."
It's hard not interpret this as another sign of an administration that is profoundly out of touch with the lives of working people all around this country. But maybe what we've got here is a glass-half full kind of guy celebrating his milestones where he can find them. After all - a little cockeyed optimism at the White House probably brightens some of the darker headlines these days.
So donning our Rose Garden colored glasses, here's some other good news from the Bush administration:
* More than half of all the homes in this country have not been foreclosed on--yet.
* More than half of the residents of New Orleans were not permanently displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
* More than half of Halliburton executives haven't been indicted.
* More than half of the polar ice caps are still in place.
* More than half of Americans who don't have health insurance probably won't get sick today.
* More than half of college graduates won't have to declare bankruptcy immediately because of their student loan debt.
* More than half of oil company executives can still afford to fill their cars' gas tanks
* More than half the nations of the world still return our phone calls.
With this kind of good news, it's no surprise that well more than half of Americans are counting the days until the Bush administration is no more.
Andy Stern is the president of the 1.9 million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest-growing union in North America