I saw President Bush on TV today, he was in Texas at some Emergency
Ops Center. and he made a little speech--no big deal, the sort of routine appearance any politician might make to encourage the front line troops and reassure the public; I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying, I just watched him while he spoke.

It suddenly struck me, he looked old. Not just older, he looked old. His body language and his bearing looked as if decades had been piled on him, he was hunched over, he looked tired, his eyes darted about as if in expectation of some catastrophe, and his voice seemed subdued, his demeanor depressed. I know the Presidency takes a lot out of a man, any man, but this was different. Mr Bush seemed exhausted, no, he seemed beaten. There was no spark in the man, no spring in his step, this was not the "Mission Accomplished" guy on the flight deck of a flattop. This was a man who was, if not afraid, then resigned to a future over which he had no control. He was a man on the brink of personal defeat and failure, in spite of his best efforts. I felt sorry for him, and I mean that sincerely, not facetiously.

Although I have often disagreed with Mr Bush's policies, I have never thought he was a particularly evil man. I'm sure he felt everything he did was for the good of his country. As far as I was concerned, he was a decent man with the wrong opinions and bad companions, a man who was in way over his head. Today I saw the face of a man who had just realized that about himself.