President Bush Gets Warm Welcome Home

Lost amongst all the sensationalism of the Obama inauguration was the great welcome that President Bush received upon arriving home in Texas:

Taking the stage in front of a sea of red, white and blue “W” signs and more than 20,000 supporters, George W. Bush traded a cold and uninviting Washington on Tuesday for the warm embrace of this West Texas oil town.

There was no talk here about historically low poll ratings, disappointment, regret or change — just a hero’s return to the place where it all began for Mr. Bush and the opportunity for him to offer a mild rebuttal to his critics.

“I never took an opinion poll to tell me what to think,” Mr. Bush said to roaring cheers in Centennial Plaza, where he began his first inaugural journey in 2001.

“When I walked out of the Oval Office this morning, I left with the same values that I took to Washington eight years ago; when I go home tonight and I look into the mirror, I’m not going to regret what I see.”

If the wild celebration of President Barack Obama’s swearing-in contained an implicit rebuke of Mr. Bush’s presidency, there was no acknowledgment of it here — and no bitterness about it, either.

“Today was a great day for America and a good man took the oath of office, and we all offer our prayers for his success,” Mr. Bush said, receiving more-than-polite applause.

Class and dignity, unlike liberals who presented themselves as bitter fools on Bush's inauguration days. I haven't seen a single, major conservative VIP or pundit yet get bent out of shape over Obama being the new Prez--instead we seem to be taking a collective wait-n-see approach, constructive criticism along the way, but nowhere any sort of Derangement Syndrome that the Left has carried for years regarding President Bush and still holds onto despite a new guy now being in office.