As I wake up today I find that Boss Dann is back. He's the most creative and interesting writer I've encountered in the blogosphere. He's got a new blog... called Right Shorts.  Check it out from my "Blogs I like" link.

Also, the Colts are in the Superbowl.  This will be the first Superbowl in years that I cared much about.  It was interesting when the Falcons made it a few years back and the Titans could have been world champs, but this seems a little different.  This seems like it could be the beginning of a long run of AFC Championships and Superbowl appearances.

Let's kick back and enjoy this pinnacle of American sports.  And some greasy American food.

Life is good.

sharp

If I said Titanic was a terrible movie, the Colts and Bears are awful football teams and Obama is a miserable politician, you'd call me an idiot.  And rightly so.

So what do we call those who continue to scream that the economy is in disastrous shape?  After how many huge misses do we begin to say that they don't know what they're talking about?

During political season it served the Democrats (and by that I also mean the media) to talk about the economy like a good friend's sudden death.  Any good news from the economy was bad news for them.  But now there's simply no excuse.

And this is where it gets ugly.  The economy has now weathered Hurricane Katrina, September 11th, massive securities scandals and a recession (the latter two from the prior administration) a so-called housing slump and a trash-talking press.  Who should get the credit?  President Bush and the Republican congress.  Partly due to tax cuts (particularly capital gains) and partly due to only being seriously irresponsible with spending instead of insanely historically irresponsible (the jury's still out on that one).

The question is, will the Democrats mess it up?  Will they rush into massive global warming spending and regulation?  Will they decide to pour twice the money Bush did on prescription drugs to prove they're really more compassionate?  Will they pass universal health disas...I mean care?  Or will they just raise taxes on the premise that the deficit is out of control and Social Security is about to be insolvent (never mind that both are untrue)?

We'll see.  But I'm hoping Bush vetoes every bill that comes down Pennsylvania avenue with tax and/or spending increases.  Let the economy continue to blossom and stay out of the way.

sharp

I firmly believe that history will view Iraq as a major tipping point in Middle Eastern democracy and a huge leap forward in the war on terror. I realize that puts me in a very small minority. Putting aside the days headlines, however, reveals the enormous strides already made in Iraq - from toppling the regiime without the promised casualties to elections, trials, terrorists killed or captured and the roots of a new nation inching slowly but firmly into the sandy soil.

The miscalculations of war (and every war has had them) have always given credibility to an incredible opposition.  In this case, an anti-war crowd whose only approach to fighting terror is not to fight at all, but rather to "engage" terrorists.  This plan would draw howls of laughter in a pre-September 11th world and it's absurd that it doesn't draw even more in light of the neck-slicing, child-slaughtering, mass-murdering behavior of the terror crowd.

But there has been a blunder on the part of the Bush administration that America, and possibly many others, will pay for decades hence.  About Putin, Bush famously stated, "I looked into his soul" and "I liked the man".  Perhaps on some level he did, but he missed the man who overturned democracy in a major world power and turned an invaluable ally into, possibly, our biggest enemy.

It has long since been forgotten that Al Gore reassured Americans that all was well while he was charged with overseeing the massive American dollars given to Russia as they tried to turn from Soviet Communism to democracy.  Meanwhile, Americans and Russians were being robbed blind and a shocking wealth-class was developed in Russia while the poor were abandoned.  Then the poor wanted Putin to turn them back to pre-faux democracy days. Which he did.  Enter Bush.

Bush's blunder was to trust Putin and to overlook atrocities and the swindling of Russian democracy because he both "trusted" Putin and because he needed his support in the war on terror.  Particularly in not opposing our entrance in Afghanistan which is exactly two blocks from Russia.  But the price is and will continue to be far too high.  Now Kasparov, the former world chess champion, is leading a coaltion of parties called "The Other Russia" (according to a Wall Street Journal article).  That may provide hope for the return of democracy, freedom, oppportunity and a critical American ally on the world stage.

That, in my opinion, is going to be the real blunder in the George Bush legacy.  Let's hope I'm wrong about Russia.

sharp

I guess bad news sells papers. It also gets viewers.  I don't know if any of you have ever looked at a night's lineup on Lifetime Movie Network but it usually goes something like this:

8:00 p.m.  Terrorized: A woman is terrorized by an ex-boyfriend who cooks her pets.

10:00 p.m. Revenge:  A woman takes justice into her own hands when her lover tries to take her children and cook their pets..

12:00 p.m. Online Horror:  A woman meets a man online only to find that he once cooked another woman's pets.'

2:00 a.m. The Victim:  A woman gives her heart to her old high school flame only to realize he's on parole for cooking pets.

I mean to tell you, we are a nation that loves to wallow in misery.  And these women's channel schedules are downright disturbing.  But the daily news headlines are no different.

"Housing Slump worst in years!" blared the headlines on Friday.  But the truth was, housing had just reported a second month of surprising growth and had clearly rebounded.

In a California hotel a couple of weeks ago, I caught a few minutes of the local news.  Only to see tired retreads of former misery Richard Clarke and some of his friends as "unbiased" guest analysts on the Bush administration. 

So the focus is on misery.  And we're wallowing.  This country badly needs another Ronald Reagan. Another optimistic leader with a vision of America as a great city on a hill.   Can it be Obama?  Not with the barriers of Hillary, NOW and Cindy Sheehan in front of him.  He'll need to embrace abortion in all situations, refer to America as the terror nation of the world and endure the vicious attacks of Senora Clinton and her team of character assassins. 

In the end, Mitt Romney still looks poised to be the next President from where I stand. He has the distinct advantage of running in the primary of the optimistic party. 

sharp

Time to go home and do all the other stuff that makes life worthwhile. A little reading, a little eating out. A little quality time and a little church. A little silliness with my wife and a standing Saturday morning breakfast appointment with Dad.

Have a great weekend.

sharp