"The Lamest Duck"

Joe Klein sums up Bush's eight years in one paragraph of his brilliant essay.

In the end, ..., it will not be the creative paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. Bush never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and regulation that was necessary to make markets work. He never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and equity that was necessary to maintain the strong middle class required for both prosperity and democracy. He never considered the complexities of the cultures he was invading. He never understood that faith, unaccompanied by rigorous skepticism, is a recipe for myopia and foolishness. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one.

I particularly enjoyed the sentence about faith. Skepticism is what makes faith so rewarding. If all one did was spend his whole life obeying what his parents, clergy and community told him, he would be a lame excuse for a human being, a shell filled with intellectual meringue.