The Insultingly Irrelevant George W. Bush and One More Word on Ron Paul

President Bush has completed what was probably the final trip to Europe of his two terms in office. It was hardly a victory lap.

The president was given cordial welcome in Italy and France, but the leaders in those countries are unpopular too. In Germany, the usual protesters did not even turn out because they consider him irrelevant.

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was warned not to be too chummy with our leader.

It has come to this: The most unpopular president in recent history goes abroad with little fanfare and limited news coverage. It is almost humiliating.

But the president forges on with his stands on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and continues to link them with the war on terrorism. Some Bush partisans think that history will vindicate him. The odds are against it.

Finally, the president and first lady suggested that we may not have seen the last Bush in the White House. They talked up Jeb Bush, the younger brother and two-term governor of Florida.

Maybe he would have been more successful in the first place. However, the nation seems to be afflicted with Bush fatigue and Clinton fatigue and the next president will be named McCain or Obama.

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My recent blog on Ron Paul touched off an enormous flow of angry reaction. I thank you for writing.

The more reasonable critics disagreed with my calling Paul an isolationist. They prefer noninterventionist.

That's fair enough, but we will continue our disagreement on the definition of the Libertarian's views during his many years in Congress.

For those who were insulting or even profane, I can say only that they are fortunate to have the First Amendment in this country, as am I. I think Dr. Paul would agree, since many of his views run contrary to mainstream politics these days.