I think of the "still-president" (see: Jon Stewart) as one of the worst in our history, and like to think I was in the first million or two to think it. SPB says, of course, that history will treat him much more kindly than anyone outside the White House now expects. Not just good, but a visionary, even.

I had a thought yesterday that maybe he's right! Maybe he saw what so many of us now understand, that we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, especially those from the Middle East because of all of its downsides. But he didn't want to rely on stinky-ol' Kyoto, and he didn't want to impose carbon taxes or the carbon fees of a cap-and-trade system.

So, he trumped up the evidence for an invasion of Iraq and rattled his (our!) swords against Iran while doing nothing to smooth the differences between Israel and Palestine, which have had the combined effect of destabilizing the world's oil markets and sending prices skyward.

Americans are now thinking about how to buy less gas, and which should result in fewer carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Sure, thousands of American servicemen were killed, tens of thousands were maimed, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died, trillions of dollars were spent, and uncountable measures of US admiration around the world were frittered away, perhaps never to be fully restored. But he got 'er done.

Like a squirrel, I tell ya.