Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo linked to the unbelievable spectacle of Peggy Noonan expressing doubt about l'il Georgie's electability:

But let me share a thought I've been having that is not so jolly. It has to do with Mr. Bush's re-election prospects and a worry I have. History has been too dramatic the past 3 1/2 years. It has been too exciting. Economic recession, 9/11, war, Afghanistan, Iraq, fighting with Europe. fighting with the U.N., boys going off to fight, Pat Tillman, beheadings. It has been so exciting. And my general sense of Americans is that we like things to be boring. Or rather we like history to be boring; we like our lives to be exciting. We like history to be like something Calvin Coolidge dreamed: dull, dull. dull. And then we complain about the dullness, and invent excitements that are the kind we really like: moon shots, spaceships, curing diseases. Big tax cuts that encourage big growth that creates lots of jobs for young people just out of school.

No, I am not suggesting all our recent excitement is Mr. Bush's fault. History handed him what it handed him. And no, I am not saying the decisions he took were wrong or right or some degree of either. I'm saying it's all for whatever reasons been more dramatic than Americans in general like history to be.

Here is my fear: that the American people, liking and respecting President Bush, and knowing he's a straight shooter with guts, will still feel a great temptation to turn to the boring and disingenuous John Kerry. He'll never do anything exciting. He doesn't have the guts to be exciting. And as he doesn't stand for anything, he won't have to take hard stands. He'll do things like go to France and talk French and they'll love it. He'll say he's the man who accompanied Teresa Heinz to Paris, only this time he'll say it in French and perfectly accented and they'll all go "ooh la la!"

The American people may come to feel that George W. Bush did the job history sent him to do. He handled 9/11, turned the economy around, went into Afghanistan, captured and removed Saddam Hussein. And now let's hire someone who'll just by his presence function as an emollient. A big greasy one but an emollient nonetheless.

I just have a feeling this sort of thing may have some impact this year. "A return to normalcy," with Mr. Kerry as the normal guy.

At first I thought one could say Bush has done what history sent him to do only after Dick Cheney is history.

But then I gave it a bit of thought. Disregard for the moment that NObody "handled" 9/11. Well, you have to overlook that job growth hasn't kept up with population growth too, okay? And I guess it's only so important to recognize simply going into Afghanistan wasn't the mandate, taking out Al Qaida was. That Bush stopped short of that to invade Iraq is, I guess, balanced by…well, I don't know what it's balanced by but my ignorance isn't the point.

The point is, she may have a point.

George W. Bush and the Neocon contingent have shown exactly what happens when you let rhetoric rather than reason determine you policy. They've proven you can't trust people who expect you to disregard their actions in favor of the particular words they use in this particular conversation. They've given us a taste of the only political philosophy more dangerous in this day and age than isolationism: that philosophy is solipsism.

These are things we need to understand on a damn near genetic level if we're going to survive.

A while back, when I was writing in the mythic mode rather than the sociopolitical one, I wrote this thing:

A Little Myth

"But Master, it's been said God moves in mysterious ways. What hope do we really have?"

"What is needed will be provided and as always, it is by the Grace of God that we achieve that which we do.

"The dispensation of Grace in the time of Abraham was in Faith. Through Faith, his people became great. The dispensation of Grace in the time of Yeshua was in Knowledge. Through Knowledge his people because great and powerful. The dispensation of Grace in the current age is in Understanding. Through Understanding our people will become great and powerful and wise.

"The world needs this wisdom because our power is such that it bids fair to destroy us. And what is needed will be provided. So set out to understand, to be great and powerful and wise, without fear of failure."

In that context I can accept that history intended us to see the immense dangers of defining ourselves purely by our physical powers and economic interests. Especially when we don't actually seem to know the limits of that power. And George W. Bush has shown us those dangers, and in the person of his administration, has given people to whom HUMANS are the priority the opportunity to reject them.

Yes, perhaps we can say George has done what history told him to do.

When Cheney is history, we can definitely say it.