One year left, so why am I so depressed?

By Edward Copeland

At midnight tonight, there will be exactly one year left in the destructive administration of George W. Bush. Exactly one year remains until his ass is out of office. Of course, it's a leap year, so he gets an extra day. Also technically, his term ends at noon Jan. 20, 2009, so it's probably 365 and a half days.

Still, here I am, depressed. Why? Hillary Nothing-But-Ambition Clinton has notched another victory in the race for the Democratic nomination, even though I realize in practical terms she's only getting one delegate more than Obama out of Nevada. (Though Keith Olbermann just said on MSNBC as I write this that the Obama campaign is saying they actually received more delegates. Caucuses are just the strangest things in voting and isn't it time they go away before 2012 gets here?)

It's not over yet of course and I've been careful not to pin my hopes too high on Obama, but while I oppose Hillary for many, many reasons, the one overriding reason for my opposition to her is that I believe she will make a General Election that should be a cakewalk for the Democratic nominee either into a close race or, worse, a Republican win the White House at a time when we can least afford it.

Of course, things outside the 2008 election race are bringing me down as well. I have a confession to make: There is a bit of a capitalist in me and the economy has been kicking my ass in terms of investments thanks to yet another awful Dubya appointment. (Why doesn't anyone criticize Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke as another of Dubya's countless mistakes?) What's even more discouraging is that no one seems to want to take any real efforts to right the sinking ship that is the U.S. economy. Dubya trotted out his idea of stimulus package this week and what was it? Give everyone $800. Very reminiscent of his post 9/11 advice to Americans telling them that they could help the fight against terrorism by shopping.

Congress is no better. The Democratic leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid has been an absolute joke. What have they accomplished of note since they took back Congress in January 2007? Not a damn thing. The war grinds on. Dubya gets what he wants on just about everything. They even praise Bernanke and think that Dubya's package is a step in the right direction, as long as the right Americans get their $800.

On the plus side, it looks like Mitt Romney still has a fighting chance for the GOP nomination, since I think he'll be the easiest Republican for any Democrat to beat. On the other hand, should Hillary get the Democratic nomination, I think that increases the possibility that Mike Bloomberg will seriously consider mounting a third-party presidential race. Will he be able to win? No. Will he steal votes from both parties? Absolutely, but if it's Hillary is the nominee, she'll unite the Republicans in a way that no Republican candidate can and make it even more likely that she will lose and a Republican president will take office in 2009, will get to make the rightward swing of the Supreme Court even more permanent and steer us in even more disastrous directions, even though it's hard to imagine that any of the current Republican candidates will be as abysmal as Dubya (hard to top the worst of all time), but they won't be good for America either.

I'm very sad.