Gazing into the Water Cooler

Here are the results from the Wednesday morning quarterbacks who vie with me for a starting position as Chief Office Pundit.

1 - Rod Dondi Blagoevich will join George Ryan behind bars, having been ousted before his 2nd term is over, and no doubt qualifying Illinois for a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records due to the dubious achievement of two governors occupying jail cells at the same time. Extra points if they are at the same institution.

2 - Giannoulias will be the source of the next Statehouse scandal.

3 - Prince Urkel will continue business as usual, thereby solidifying his position as a craven sock puppet to the Democratic machine and in return obtaining their undying loyalty and as many dollars as they can shake down from county workers for his re-election.

I am happy that Bush has been reined in. The Imperial Presidency of the Great Decider was dealt a significant blow and Rumsfeld, in true samurai fashion, fell on his sword for his President. He will no longer be a catalyst for the Democratic leadership to rally against. Now they have to perform, or face the wrath of the voters in 2 years.

If anything is certain in this election it is that most voters are tired of the partisan crap. However that doesn't mean they will support the hard choices that need to be made unless our elected officials grow some backbones and start confronting the issues. The campaign was lacking in evidence of any backbones in place. The winners are behind the curve in that regard and better get cracking. Now.

ETA Here's all 42 minutes of the President's news conference. Among other things he announces the resignation of Rumsfeld, and he knew over the weekend what he was going to do but wouldn't say anything because it could influence the campaign. Good reason. He thought the Republicans were going to do fine in the election, but the decision on Rumsfeld was a done deal. He also acknowledges that he has to work with the Democrats. And he clearly sees the war on terror going on long after he is gone. He uses the Cold War as the analogy.