Of Obama, Kerry and Richardson: Keeping one's friends at a distance

THE FIFTH COLUMNIST by P.M. Carpenter

Whether from an exceptional eye for irony or a keen sense of justice, yesterday the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny perfectly captured, as he put it, "the stark image of the transfer of power that is under way in Washington."

Far away from the centers of official authority, "Mr. Obama and his new [economic] team arrived in a room of dozens of reporters." Earlier, "President Bush made brief remarks at the Treasury Department with Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.," standing "nearly alone on the steps of the Treasury Department."

I saw the video tape of his "brief remarks" and, after eight years, the man still looked uncomfortable in his own skin, still looked ineffably clueless and still utterly bereft of personal responsibility.

"This is a tough situation for America," said Bush, as though these gargantuan troubles descending on us somehow magically appeared, inexplicable in their origins and impersonal in their nature.

It was an extraordinarily bizarre scene, for he also looked withered and beaten, and I'd like to think that was because it has finally dawned on him that God never was at his back.