What will the New York Times editorial board and its op-ed columnists do when George W. Bush is no longer president? Every day, for the past eight years, there has been criticism of him—much of it vitriolic—by the likes of Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman,¹ Gail Collins, and Bob Herbert. All of these people suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome. You might say that they'll focus their criticism on President Barack Obama. If you believe that, then you live in Cloud Cuckoo Land. They love Obama. I can't imagine anything he can do, including ramp up the war in Iraq and reduce taxes on the wealthy, that would prompt them to turn on him. "Maybe they'll stop being negative and write positive stories," you say. Ha! These people don't have it in them to write positive stories. They are irredeemably negative and critical. They are filled with venom, not honey. As my mother would say, they don't have a nice bone in their bodies. I predict that they will continue to bash President Bush and Vice President Cheney long after Bush and Cheney have receded into private life. They hate these men. Their lives revolve around vilifying them. It has given their lives meaning for the past eight years. They will continue to do what they know, and enjoy doing it. Mark my words.
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¹"Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults" (Daniel Okrent, "13 Things I Meant to Write About but Never Did," The New York Times, 22 May 2005).
