Sometimes it just stops.

I thought it would go on forever. That no matter what the courts or the legislatures or the talking wanks said, it would just keep continuing. But in the last couple of weeks, I noticed that everyone was tired. No one wanted to keep going, but no one was willing to quit. I still got the usual daily joke though the work e-mail (Republican in stance, as I work in the rarefied air of the Sandia foothills, a place that spawns those who are frightened by the fact that I actually live in the heart of the city), but even those seemed weary, as if their stilted humor wasn't enough to keep their heads up. Everyone wanted to get it over with. The election had tainted Thanksgiving and had already thrown up warning signs that people were actually spending less money on Christmas this year. This indecision was hurting our livelihood!

But then everything was over. The speeches were short (something like five or six minutes for Gore, about twice that for Bush), and the message was simple. It's all over, thanks for waiting. Gore is now the Democratic front-runner for 2004 (thanks to his emotional gush, probably one of the better speeches of his career). And Bush is now president-elect. Of course, what I saw on Tuesday didn't portend fun days ahead. When a guy has to read everything off the teleprompter in groups of five words or less, you have to wonder if he even cares about what he's saying.

Look at that, I just made a crack against the new President-elect! Wow, maybe it will be a fun four years.

But all this talk about healing and bringing together the nation is a bunch of hooey. It doesn't matter what Bush says with his wacky William Shatner approach to speech giving, there is half a country of people who aren't happy he won. It would have been the same if Gore won. Republicans were pissed for eight years that they weren't in the White House, what makes them think the Democrats are going to give up after just six weeks of recounts and court hearings?

But Bush did an interesting thing the day after he accepted the victory: he rescinded on a few campaign promises right off. No more huge tax cut, no reworking of Social Security, no fixing of the whole Medicare prescription drug mess. Bam, off the table, let's not talk about those things I kept saying I'd do. Those six weeks cost us, and these are the things I'm not going to push through.

Like with the debates during the campaign, we've given Bush a few feet of leniency. He says it's because the nation is so divided, he can't push these things through, but really it gives him breathing room. I means he doesn't have to even be seen as giving up on campaign promises because the campaign became bigger than that. It became a sue me/sue you game that eventually ended up in the Supreme Court. Give Bush a free pass, he had so much adversity right off the bat. It's what he's become accustomed to this entire election. Getting the pass because, well, he's not really the smartest guy, but he's trying. He's got good intentions.

And Gore won the election. That's got to get under Bush's crotch. Gore got more votes overall (in pre-election scenarios, it was supposed to happen the other way around, with Gore squeaking in with the Electoral win and Bush with the popular win), and it was Bush sneaking in with that technicality of our constitution. How can you properly govern with (slightly) more people against you than for you?

We'll see. He's starting to surround himself with old buddies of his father's, which is an interesting party. I've been to a few where the people there were friends of my dad and mom, and we were the bouncy kids sneaking spiked eggnog for younger cousins. I'm not sure if I'd be as happy about having to corral a group of people that much older than me and expect them to respect me. And who knows? Maybe they don't. Maybe they just want the springboard chance.

Colin Powell seemed to be much happier about working with Cheney than the younger Dub'ya in his "I'm gonna be the next Secretary of State" speech. I expect that Powell won't be the only one who takes the job for the job rather than the man.

But we've got to remember something here, it's all very early in this new era of Dub'ya. It could get better. He might actually do some good and not allow all his oil company friends to rape and pillage what's left of our natural lands. He might decide to give more money to education than the pittance he suggested during the campaign. He might stop saying that silly "fight and wage war" thing. He might...

Ohhh--What am I talking about? Shit, where the hell am I? What is that sound? Are those trumpets? Are those streamers and drunken Republicans throwing trash at the homeless? What is going on here? Wait--something's coming up on the teleprompter: "Please welcome, the next President of the United States..."

Matt Worley is going to rest up over the holidays so he'll be in prime shape to poke fun at the new administration and become the next anti-Limbaugh.