The Final Days of Bush

Even as an Obama supporter, there are still times when I think about the burdens and pressures of being George W. Bush. It's one thing to walk the line, but it's another to swim in blurred gray areas -- and we know how they say life is never so defined.

Although the past 8 years have not been this country's best -- and I am sure most of these years has not been Bush's best either -- I am certainly impressed by how tightly the president has held on. Politics aside, the gritty tenacity he's shown, the simple, but rigid principles he relies on have been interesting to watch.

Honestly, how can you wholeheartedly believe the man to be evil, if you allowed yourself to understand that Bush firmly and adamantly believes that he has been doing the "right" thing?

And his idea of leadership and heroism is to keep going on even while everything else falls apart, even while the world turns on you.

I cannot imagine how many counts of betrayal he's had to face.

And still, here he is, doing what he set out to do -- for better or for worse, ill-advised or not.

Despite what I disagree with, I still have to give him that kudos for hanging on.

"The Final Days" is a great article from The New York Times magazine by its first-time contributor, Pete Baker, on the Bush Legacy. Also, listen to the Back Story podcast to the left of the article to hear what Baker has to say.