Last night Punk-Ass-in-Chief George W. Bush finally bade farewell to the nation in a televised address nobody watched in which he outlined the achievements of his eight years in an alternative universe which bore little resemblance to our shared reality except that every day was apparently opposite day.

In this Through the Looking Glass world Mr. Bush was not just the Chest-bumping Protector-in-Chief, who might not have seen the worst attack on US soil coming (it did happen on his watch, after all) but kept us safe ever after.  He was also:

• Triumphant Savior of Nations, according to whom Iraq is now "an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States";

• Boy Genius, who saved us from recession with "decisive measures to safeguard our economy"; and

• Son of Ozone Man, whose bold steps to save the planet  have left "America's air and water and lands...measurably cleaner."  Than what was not specified.

If Mr. Bush really were a superhero, he'd have to be Hancock.
 
In endless exit interviews he has let on that he's a little wounded by what he has made fairly clear he sees as an ungrateful nation's indifference to his departure.  For those who aren't indifferent by now, there is still relief as well, of course.  But the history we are about to witness, the continuity with a heroic past, the elegance of the narrative arc it represents, the hope for a kind of salvation it promises, is too compelling to dwell on the petty, greedy, solipsistic little usurper who's destiny with obscurity awaits. Just roll the Boy in the Bubble out the back door, we've got important business to conduct here.

Regardless of what you think of Obama, it's hard to imagine a more decisive a break from Bush, while remaining in the realm of our shared reality.  For all the double talk on race that has been an inevitable element of this process, right now Obama's race matters very much indeed.  African Americans can be proud that a man with African roots has reached the pinnacle of power.  In fact, we all can.  It would be taking the wrong lesson from this extraordinary moment to assert that he has reached this point in spite of his race, when he has reached it as much because of it. 

The hope that he represents is not divorced from America's racial past.  It is decisively continuous with it.  This is why Obama chose the Lincoln Bible.  This is what makes the fact that the Inauguration celebration unofficially kicks off with MLK day Monday not an irony, but a case of poetic justice.  The moment is rich with symbolic force and we would be wise to harness it for real and enduring social change that would bring our reality closer to the rhetoric of The Dream.  

There was never any poetry in Bush's person or his presidency.  He made light of his position from the start, shrugging and smirking and mugging for the cameras for his eight years of fame.  Why should he expect all the sudden that anyone wax poetic over him now?  It's enough for me, personally, that he will more or less disappear down his rabbit hole, but this time without dragging us all through the looking glass with him.