So what is the legacy of the Bush administration? And how can the Democratic Party capitalize on it?

They’ve proven that Republicans aren’t for big government, and that they are for big spending. Hell, even many right-leaning conservatives are having trouble justifying this administration’s excesses. Lee from Right Thinking from the Left Coast usually refers to liberals as “asshats”, but found himself to the conclusion that “when [Democrats] come up with a spending proposal they also come up with the tax increases necessary to fund it.”

The problem is that the GOP has shot itself in the foot by giving Bush carte-blanche to do whatever the hell he wanted to. It used to be that Republicans could say “Well, we helped get rid of him!” regarding the charge that it was a Republican, Nixon, who tried to rig an election. Well, here, they do not have that defense - a large portion of the Republican Party has not only gone along with Bush’s spending and excesses, they’ve told those in opposition that they were unpatriotic, unAmerican, and even worse, French!

(Ok, kidding, I like the French, I do.)

It is time for the Democratic Party to take charge! To point out, “Hey, look, this guy is a nutter, and honestly, this is what you get for running someone for president because their only qualification is that their name is ‘George Bush.’ IDIOTS!”

It is time to WIN the battle in Iraq, to BALANCE the budget, and to truly reach across party lines and build a bi-partisan effort to fix the failures of the last four years. George W. Bush has tried to say that he was all for ending partisanship in Washington, but he hasn’t - he’s only made it worse.

Well, my curiousity was piqued. After finding that alumni website, and posting that message, I yanked out the old yearbook and flipped through the pages, looking at the photos of my former classmates. How many of them had I forgotten? Almost of all them. It was amazing how once what was your whole world can disappear over time, only to suddenly spring back up without warning.

Well, I shouldn’t say that. There’s a guy from my high school class who works at the Giant Food up near me. I don’t know if he recogizes me, and I don’t really talk to him when I’m shopping, next time maybe I’ll say, “Hey, you went to Atholton, didn’t you?” Anyway, it is nice to know I’m not the only guy who hasn’t quite hit the ground running - how many of those people who posted to that site are lawyers? Goodness!

I’m trying to think of who I kept in touch with from the class. Keith, for a long time - we finally lost touch about a year or so ago, he was going to Johns Hopkins. I have his number and I need to call him - there’s no point in losing touch when he’s that easy to get in touch with, y’know? I got a random e-mail from Konrad a few years back. Nothing from Nathan, but we weren’t very close the last few years of HS anyway — haven’t heard from him since we both took a summer class at Howard Community together about five years ago. I think he’s working in Hollywood as a camera operator.

I don’t know why I’m so overcome by this … regret? Probably that “The Girl Next Door” movie - I should know enough to know that watching these sentimental movies about high school is a bad idea. Doesn’t help when the movie is about a bunch of geeks: makes it a LOT easier for me to identify with it.

I guess what really hooks me about all this is that I’ve never really built any solid frienship - except for in two cases, with two wonderful people who know who they are … one is in Ireland, the other in Indiana, the only two people with whom I feel I have a true and honest connection (calling them “friends” doesn’t do the relationship justice, they’re more than that). They’re the only two people with whom I’ve spent the time to build bridges - I don’t know why I haven’t with others, except that I am an extremely shy person with (quite a few) self-esteem problems.

Maybe I’ll get over those problems. Maybe I won’t. I just feel a deep sadness for the opportunities in my life that I’ve lost. There will of course be other opportunities, other chances. And yet I feel stuck in a rut - and one that I cannot, no matter how hard I try, escape.