President Bush is finally getting a crash course on what it means to participate in the "reality-based community," but we're not out of the woods yet.
Though Mr. Bush's swagger is gone, he still rambles on as if he truly believes there's a light at the end of Iraq's long, dark tunnel.
Fortunately, the recent talk of "surges" won't amount to much now that the generals are starting to show some spine. Only the most recalcitrant of the administration's diminishing coterie of dead-enders believes the goal of a democratic Iraq friendly to the United States is anything but illusory.
Iraq may be lost, but there's reason to hope that American democracy is on the rebound after a period of succumbing to our worst instincts in the name of national security.
The year began with the country still incredulous over the scope of administration bungling during the Katrina disaster the previous fall.
When Vice President Cheney shot a hunting companion in the face, it seemed as if the mockery of the gods was in full effect. As an act of callous incompetence, it was barely a step above criminal indifference.
Things have gone steadily downhill for the White House ever since, culminating in the loss of both houses of Congress last month.
Ironically, the president's humiliation is one of many signs of democratic renewal. Want more proof that the times truly are a-changin'? Check out this list (in no particular order):
In late April, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert of "The Colbert Report" took Mr. Bush and Washington's media elite to the woodshed in a brilliant, eviscerating performance denounced by the humorless twits he lampooned as "rude" and "inappropriate."
Speaking truth to power in the persona of his faux right-wing pundit, Colbert made it impossible for anyone to take the orgy of smarmy self-congratulation that is the White House Correspondents' Dinner seriously ever again. Next year, expect the administration-friendly Dennis Miller.
A deluge of books about the political chicanery in the run up to the Iraq war and its disastrous execution reached a critical mass with Ron Suskind's "The One Percent Doctrine," Thomas Ricks' "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq" and Bob Woodward's "State of Denial."
Lawrence Wright's majestic "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" put that terrible day into perspective, too.
MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" became required nightly viewing for the "secular progressive" crowd that used to watch "The O'Reilly Factor" out of a sense of helpless, masochistic outrage.
Olbermann's "Special Comments" segments circulate in the liberal blogosphere like sacred epistles. No wonder he's considered this generation's true heir to Edward R. Murrow (Sorry, Jon Stewart.)
The rise and rise and rise of Sen. Barack Obama. His second book "The Audacity of Hope" hit No. 1 and stayed there. Now America's most charismatic politician is being touted as the Democratic front-runner should he enter the '08 primaries. President Obama? Now, that's the audacity of hope.
The return of muscular skepticism about government, especially incompetent government that doesn't know or care tiddly-winks about governing.
The neutralization of religion as a wedge issue in elections. Jesus is no longer the exclusive lawn jockey of Red State America. Blue State Democrats have learned to take his name in vain, too.
Global warming is no longer considered a plot by the Sierra Club and environmental "pantheists" to undermine capitalism. Conservatives and key evangelical leaders are finally giving the theory the respect it deserves. Thanks to "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore now has the moral gravitas of a prophet.
A renewed intolerance for intolerance. It's no longer cool to denigrate gay people. It's OK to express revulsion at casual anti-Semitism. It's not OK for anyone to use anti-black slurs, not even blacks. Michael Richards, Mel Gibson and Steelers' linebacker Joey Porter bore our sins for us.
Karl Rove may have skated free of an indictment in the Valerie Plame affair, but Don Rumsfeld was unceremoniously dumped despite Mr. Bush's vow to keep him as secretary of defense forever. Karma works in mysterious ways.
TV drama became popular culture's most consistent truth-teller. "The Wire," "Battlestar Galactica," "Deadwood" and "24" said more about this moment in American history than most newspapers, novels and movies combined.
Neoconservatives repent (sort of). Francis Fukuyama's "America at the Crossroads" leads the parade of neocons apologizing for instigating a stupid war. Can Christopher Hitchens' mea culpa be far behind?
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