SOTU tonight. 9pm.

Bush's last State of the Union. Believe it or not, even though nobody can shut up about Clinton and Obama, neither has been elected yet, and Americans have one more opportunity to be reminded that G-Dubs is still our Commander-in-Chief. Tonight, though, I imagine we'll hear a collective sigh resounding through the nation, "Thank God his presidency is almost over!"

Let's review highlights from the State of the Union speeches over his previous 7 years...

- Championing "No Child Left Behind"
- Forgetting about children/alienating other countries in post-2001 crisis, introducing the infamous "Axis of Evil"
- Proclaiming that Saddam Hussein had WMDs in Iraq (they didn't, says US Army)
- Proclaiming that Saddam Hussein had sought uranium in Africa (it hadn't, says CIA)
- Pushing an ill-fated effort to privatize Social Security, roundly shot down by public
- Promising to throw all the weight of his position behind helping victims of Hurricane Katrina (oh wait... he never said that. Never mentioned the hurricane at all, come to think of it...)

Now... what will this year's speech bring? It's an election year, plus he's on his way out, so no new big policy initiatives will be pushed. He will probably push to institutionalize/renew some of his lingering unpopular measures (i.e. NCLB). No doubt he'll be forced to admit he screwed up the economy real big, and ironically try to argue that his mismanagement and tax policies did not in fact contribute to the impending recession (at this point, even Republicans disagree). He might even suggest that his recent trip to the Middle East is going to miraculously produce some sort of murky peace agreement before November (surprise!!).

My guess is that for his farewell address, he's going to try to summarize the accomplishments he's made since 2000. (What, beyond breaking the record for time spent on vacation?!) He'll talk about how the country is safer and stronger than it was when he took office, and give his best last-ditch effort to convince people that going to war in Iraq was good for the security of the country and the world. Since there are maybe only four Americans left who still buy this, it'll be a painful reminder for many members of the GOP of the sorry direction their party has taken since 2000, catering to an angry, vocal, and fringe base of oil men and evangelicals.

I'm going to laugh every time Bush says something and C-SPAN zooms in on a Republican in Congress who's awkwardly trying not to clap too hard for fear of losing his/her seat in the general election. The tides are sure turning Blue these days.