(Washington)(June 1, 2006) In 1964 NBC copied a British program “That was the week that was.” Last week was the “week that was” for President George Bush. His presidency died.

     The Bush-Blair news conference in which Bush ate humble pie and admitted he had used inappropriate language marked the end of George Bush as a leader.

     There is an old expression that people laugh at funerals and cry at weddings. Unfortunately, things aren’t very funny just now. The Bush presidency buried itself last week, without the benefit of a wake. But I’m not laughing. Or, as Adlai Stevenson once said, “I’m too old to cry, and it hurts too much to laugh.”

     The plain truth: last week President Bush’s administration cratered. In Washington there was chaos. Bush/Blair dropped a “bunker-buster” on themselves as a lead-in. Then the fun began.

     The Senate and House declared war against each other over immigration.

     The hapless VA (Veterans Administration) admitted it had endangered the privacy rights of tens of millions of veterans. The Gilbert and Sullivan-style Israeli leader Ehud Olmert came to the White House and said he was for “peace,” his peace and only his peace; everyone ignored him. Except Tom Toles, the Washington Post editorial page cartoonist.

     The FBI, stymied in finding Osama Bin Laden, managed to find a congressman and stage a weekend raid on the U. S. House of Representatives. In the aftermath, the Attorney General, FBI Director and others threatened to resign if their “raid” was nullified by Bush.

     Good grief. That really was the week that was.

     And Iraq? Don’t ask. Iraq merits a separate column. Part Two of this series. Afghanistan? Oh, yes, that’s the war we won in 2001. Won? In Kabul a simple car accident sparked anti-American riots and the death of several people. Nation building, hrumph. George Bush 2000 would have known better.

     Last week truly was the week the Bush White House died and

his presidency ended.

     Nixon white house advisor Charles Colson was once quoted as saying “contribution is bull…” (He also said he’s run over his mother to help President Nixon.) Carl Rove probably told Bush that “In contrition there is salvation. Maybe if we apologize, people will forget what the problems are.”

     It was down home week. No more trash talk. Lots of humble pie. The only thing missing was a Dixie Chicks concert. But hey, they’ve moved on from country. Now the time has come for Bush to move on as well. He doesn’t quite “belong to the ages.” Yet. He’s still there. But not really.

     Almost seven (7!) years ago I caused a kerfluffle in the Bush campaign when I ran a TV ad in New Hampshire saying “Bush wants to bomb Iraq.” Bill O’Reilly was outraged and invited me on his program to vent his anger. I stood my ground, and history vindicated me. And, yes Bush vindicated me too. Somehow, strangely, I knew the man Bush. He bombed Iraq.

     I remember waking up one morning in Chicago in 2003 and reading  the Washington Post and seeing that he was railing against “Internet journalists” (yours truly) that were impugning his great “administrator” Paul Bremer. Well, I’m still standing. Anyone seen Bremer recently?

     And so, over the past seven years Bush and I have been locked in a loveless embrace. I saw him and saw through him. He saw me seeing him, and didn’t like it.

     This week we launch ContrarianCommentary.com and one again I am out on a limb, or, to mix a metaphor, in bed with George Bush, again, and again short-sheeting him. Writing his political obituary. Truly, his presidency is over.

     Mind you, there is nothing personal in any of this. As an individual, I like Bush. On my talk radio show I always defended him as a person while criticizing his policies.

     I’d love to have him leaning over my backyard fence, yapping about “Mission Accomplished” and “Bring ‘Em On,” if he meant something innocuous like the lawn mowing crew was coming, or had just left. Bush is a genuinely nice man. And a disaster as a leader. Maybe now that he is about to be run out of Washington he will end up as my backyard neighbor. Or else let bygones be bygones and invite me down to Crawford to clear some brush together.

     Don’t get me wrong. I’m not happy to be writing these observations. It is never a good day for America when the president is stuck in quicksand. While Republicans barely claim me, I am genuine conservative on public policy issues. I am not happy to see the U. S. confused and confronted by chaos everywhere. I am not happy to see a single soldier or Marine endangered. I am an American.

     But I am also a writer and I have to write the truth as I see it. Now ask yourself, who has been righter more, me or Bush, over the past seven years?

     I would like to be able to say “Bushie, let’s clear some brush and get Laura to bake some humble pie. Rhubarb is my favorite.”

     And although the Bush presidency died last week we as a nation are still on the operating table, surgery is still in progress and the outcome of the mess in Washington and its affect on our daily lives is still very much in doubt.

     On second thought, Chinese takeout anyone? Is that spelled yuan? Or Juan. Or what? Migration. Immigration. Onward to Crawford and clearing Brush. Brush, Bush? “Laura, can we have beans with the burgers?”

TOMORROW, “THE DEATH OF A PRESIDENT:” PART TWO: IRAQ