Doubling Down

In this just-begun transition period between #43 and #44, Barack Obama (soon-to-be 44), when pressed about doing this or that prior to his official innauguration, has been fond of saying that this nation "only has one president at a time."

Pity.

For while that little detail may make perfect sense and moreover be technically true, who doesn't feel a twinge of disappointment every time Obama says that?

Bush's approval ratings are trending toward the "too slight to make the needle move" range, the nation's "pessisim" index is the highest ever recorded, and not to put too fine a point on it, but if I were doing the polling, I would ask simply, "Do you feel the country is actually in the crapper, getting buried in the crapper, or is in the process of actually being flushed down the crapper?"

All of which suggests plainly and potently, that if there was ever a time this nation could use two presidents, it's now. Or maybe Bush could simply say to Obama, "Hey, look--I'm basically fried; why don't you move in early, get to work, and I'll be back for your innauguration." Nothing in the constitution prohibits that.

Besides, it's win-win: Obama gets to get started early to everyone's benefit, and Bush, in ceding his office to someone who can use it, gets the first uptick in his approval ratings in years.

Just a little thinking outside the Beltway box.