And Thank You President Bush

Faced with a deluge of unreasoning hate, rarely seen in our times, he has maintained his composure, faced his critics with dignity, maintained the honor of the Presidency and aquitted himself well as Commander-in-Chief of our nation's armed forces.

Most importantly, he has fulfilled the most important task of an American President, he has kept the nation safe from another extremist attack since those of September 11th, 2001.

He took the fight to the enemy, first in Afghanistan, where the forces of Al-Qaeda made their base, then against the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Realizing the importance of success in Iraq - after all, our enemies had emphasized that it was the main front of the war - he was one of the few that supported the Surge, which has brought us a heart-beat away from victory there, and thus inflicted a serious wound on the extremists.

Without his support for the Surge which was opposed by not only the loony-left wing of the Democratic Party, but also by elements within the Pentagon and his own party, President Obama would have fewer options in Iraq and certainly would not be at liberty to withdraw troops for the battles ahead in Afghanistan without facing a possibly humiliating defeat in Iraq.

President Bush also should be congratulated for his efforts after 9/11 to rejuvinate confidence in the American economy, which was badly bruised by the events of that day.

While he perhaps can bear some of the blame for the current financial crisis, he is certainly not the only one at fault.

As we have noted on these pages before, the roots of the current malaise extend back far into the last decade of the 20th Century and lawmakers in Congress have probably as much blame as the former President.

The former First Lady, Laura Bush also deserves praise. She has comported herself with grace and set a new standard for First Ladies in the future.

We wish both of them well and thank them both for their service.

They now deserve a nice rest, but we suspect that both will continue to serve the nation in one capacity or another in the future.