Avoiding a Fight?

Is it possible that with his choice of Michael B. Mukasey as his nominee to be the next attorney general President Bush has decided to avoid a fight with the Democrats in the Senate? Michael Abramowitz and Dan Eggen posit as much at The Washington Post.

These must be exhausting times for the President. His popularity has sustained lows like no other in history. His Iraq War has foundered on the shores of incompetence and mismanagement. His approach to the war on terrorism has been characterized by cynical political machinations, his own party keeps him at arms length. It is widely presumed that in January 2009 the government will be firmly back in the hands of the Democrats, an outcome that is almost wholly attributable to his administration's incompetence on a host of issues, and thus to him.

Almost all of this is President Bush's own fault, and more than six years of smugness and arrogance mean that almost no one will sympathize with him. But surely it is not good for America when presidents leave office broken men. The two most recent examples, Nixon and Carter, found redemption in their post-presidential lives, but the America they left was almost inarguably worse than the one they inherited even if the fault was not always theirs entirely. Democrats have much reason for optimism within the party. But the reason for the party's ascent should give all of us, including and maybe especially those of us who live in a Blue State of mind, pause. These are times of great opportunity for those of us on the left side of the American political spectrum. These are not, however, good times for America. I hope that my party is able to recognize the difference.