Bush`s legacy......mandatory sacrifice, here and abroad.

The ease with which George W. Bush floated through his life hangs in stark contrast to the sacrifice he mandates for citizens below his station. If you`re one who was given a baseball team, an oil company, a guaranteed ticket out of combat, a no-sweat college diploma and the presidency of the United States, you can understand Bush`s attitude that sacrifice is something left to others. What else explains that brief plane ride over a drowning New Orleans or the recent several-week Decide-A-Thon as soldiers were dying in Iraq?

A brief overview of Bush`s policies shows utter disregard for the lives and value of ordinary citizens. It`s as though regular folks are mere props in some kit Bush was given. There`s a Decider Room somewhere in the White House where plastic figures are moved around on a big mat. "These jobs can go, these kids can live in their parent`s car, this unit can go back to Iraq." The end results of Bush`s policies are irrelevant. What matters is the selling of the idea and if that fails, the coordinating signing statement.

Now that a majority understands they`ve been had, I wonder if they`ll exact a penalty? Will they tire of their oversight duties and go back to sleep or rip the robe off the emperor? The decision will be very telling.