The Playmobil Airport Security Playset

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A thought for you short-sighted Bush haters.

Now that Bush's administration is coming to an end, many of his critics have asserted unequivocally that his term has been a disaster. Other, more thoughtful commentators, however, have noted that Bush's critics are short-sighted. What appears to be incompetence, corruption and dishonesty at first glance may in fact be brilliance so far beyond our ordinary perception that only the passage of time will allow a proper assessment.

I completely agree with those who defend Bush. An accurate assessment of the Bush administration will require the passage of many years. It is far too early to tell whether the Iraq War, the financial meltdown, the flooding of New Orleans, and the destruction of the Justice Department, among many other things, will turn to out to be good or bad.

I have applied this principle in my professional life as well. For example, early this year I was asked to help find a business solution for a very important client. After many delays, during which time the client angrily called my boss and demanded action, I came up with a plan which had nothing to with the problem, ignored the client's business realities, and insulted several of the company's top management. I also made a phone call to the SEC which resulted in an embarrassing and very costly investigation to the client. Finally, I threw up on the company's CFO.

Now, a short-sighted person might have concluded based on this that my performance for the year was poor. However, events have shown otherwise. Following this turn of events, the company hired a dedicated team of high-priced experts and consultants to salvage the relationship with the client. Through several months of diligent and very costly efforts, including many expensive trips to tropical locations, the company has managed to keep the client. Not only that, but the financial crisis has forced the client to do business with us on favorable terms, since no other options were available to it. Finally, the company's top management were all killed in an unfortunate wheat thresher accident, and the new management team doesn't know anything about our history with the client. So our relationship with the client is now stronger than ever. I have explained to my boss that the way things turned out I deserve a large bonus, and I feel sure that he will agree.

A similar principle applies in my personal life. Sure, I had multiple affairs this year, drunkenly crashed the car a few times (severely injuring the children) and spent most of my salary on prostitutes, gambling and drugs. You might conclude that my wife is angry at me - but again that would be short-sighted. Our family income is larger than ever from my wife having to work two jobs, and the kids are absolutely loving their physical therapy. Also, the fact that I am away from home so often on gambling junkets and entertaining cheap hookers means that my wife has had more space to develop her own interests. So once again, what appeared at first glance to be despicable conduct on my part, dragging my family down into a squalid cesspool of degradation, anguish and poverty, is with the passage of time making me look like a pretty smart cookie.

So anyway, think about this the next time you're tempted to criticize President Bush. Things may look bad for Bush now, but I feel certain that someday, when the surface of the Earth has become a blasted landscape of radioactive debris, and people have evolved into free-floating shimmering plasmas of pure energy, we will look back at the Bush administration and laugh at those whose jumped to the conclusion that Bush was a bad president.