What do you say at the

dedication of a presidential

library for a failed presidency

when you are one of the living

former presidents sitting on the

podium or even the present

president and you have to say

something?  You find the best

that can be said about the man:

“To know him is to like him,” and

“He’s comfortable in his own skin,”

and whom else’s skin would he be in,

comfortable or not? Now that’s

praise for the ages. You tell a few jokes

and you avoid, at all cost, the impolite

mention of the elephant on the stage

— Iraq, the hundreds of thousands

dead, the million plus wounded,

the trillion spent and the near

collapse of the nation’s and perhaps

the world’s economy.  And what if

you are the former president

who happens to be the  father

of the honoree? You say thanks

to the crowd for being there and

wave the presidential wave from

your wheel chair. And if you are the

honoree? Well, the less said, the better.

Did he really keep saying “awesome”

over and over and over?