Changing of the guard

So much has happened over the month of August.  If you were gone on vacation, you missed the beginning of the end of what has been a dreadful era in Washington.  Today was Karl Rove's last day.  A few days ago, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation.  Earlier on Friday, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said that he would step down.  His deputy Dana Perino will take over.  John Warner, the elder statesman who recent has distanced himself from Bush's Iraq policy, will not seek reelection in 2008.  All of these changes come in the midst of yet another sex scandal involving a closet Republican.  Larry Craig, the Senator involved, will likely resign.

This Labor Day weekend pretty much marks the beginning of the countdown to the end of this brand of leadership in Washington.  Populism is back.  In both presidential fields, the populist candidates are the rock stars -- Barack Obama and John Edwards on the Democratic side, and Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul on the Republican end.  The establishment is crumbling in the wake of its own clumsiness, and quite frankly because they have failed to get anything done except for dragging up the national debt, supporting a failed foreign policy, and making us less prepared to respond to disasters.

We are approaching the end of the line.  It will be important to evaluate the 2008 presidential, Senate, and House candidates closely, and pick populist leaders to run our government for years to come.  Let's hope we learned our lesson.

Comments

[George]

Good news about Warner stepping down. He's used his influence to do absolutely nothing. What a waste of a career that was. He could have used his power to help end the Iraq disaster. He chose to stand behind Bush pretty much though, despite sprinkling in a few words of discontent. Good riddance to him and Tony Snow.