I swore to myself I would keep politics out of this blog. But my journalistic instincts which includes a keen desire for a scoop forces me to report a phenomenon I recently noticed. Like many Americans I have a favorite coffee cup and mine is the George W. Bush inauguration cup, a fine ceramic vessel which I purchased in 2001 for $1.98 which not only features a robust head and shoulders portrait of the president but a lot of bunting and the White House too.  

 The other morning as I was drinking my bitter brew ( coffee, not gall) in my President Bush cup, I noticed the familiar face was looking a bit pale. Gone are the nuances in the frat boy smile. The eyes have lost their roguish twinkle. The left eye is just about gone and the right eye has become beady. Even the White House is looking very white.  In fact, the ceramic President Bush is fading just as fast as the real President.  

 

 

 

Can you call this a miracle? Most miracles involve appearances, not disappearances. A pretzel becomes Jesus’ face and the Virgin Mary climbs up a tree to appear before some Mexican campesino children. But I haven’t read of any involving a disappearance so I guess a miracle is out. Which is too bad because we could have advanced the President as a candidate for sainthood while the Pope was here. I am told it takes at least two miracles to qualify for sainthood. But wait – there is a second miracle, the event commemorated by my fast-fading cup: his inauguration as President despite having lost the election. Saint George Walker Bush, patron of Losers Who Win Big – it has a nice ring. I might even get another cup out of it.