EX-PRESIDENTIN' IS HARD!

George W. Bush said in March that Obama "deserves my silence," but I'm not sure that was out of genuine respect or high-mindedness -- I think it was an old habit. Recall that, as president, Bush used to leave the really nasty attacks to Karl Rove and others -- in other words, he let the help do his dirty work.

Back then, when those guys attacked, it helped him; now, I think Bush is having trouble adjusting to the fact that he doesn't have any muscle on the payroll anymore and has to fight his own battles.

As I said before, I think it really upset Bush last month when there was a big mano-a-mano speech battle between President Obama and Dick Cheney on a day when Bush spoke to some high school kids and said nothing more newsworthy than the revelation that he now picks up his own dog's crap. I think he saw signs that Cheney's becoming a hero in wingnut circles in the way Bush used to be a hero. Bush knows Cheney is looking to write a book, and knows that if Cheney keeps rousing the rabble that book might eclipse his own.

So Bush went out yesterday and attacked Obama in everything but name. Take that, Dick! The Decider is back in the fray! Except that Bush pulled a punch or two ("Asked by the evening emcee at the 104th annual Manufacturer and Business Association meeting if he finds the new president's policies 'socialist,' Mr. Bush started -- then stopped") and cribbed his nastiest line...

"I told you I'm not going to criticize my successor," he said. "I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that -- persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind."

... from a four-year-old Karl Rove speech:

Rove ... told a gathering of the New York Conservative Party that "Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."

Damn, it was so much easier when Rove and Cheney and the rest were doing that stuff for Bush! Now if he wants to repair his reputation, he has to do all the grunt work himself! It's not fair!