derailed, Bush endorses Obama

President Bush, yes it's almost easy to forget he's still in office with all the campaign brouhaha going on, was in Kansas City yesterday. El Presidento was doing the one thing he's still seems capable of doing without causing a train to derail in Donner Pass, that of making greeting cards with kindergardeners. But he even has trouble with that.

I appreciate, Don [Donald Hall, Hallmark CEO], your hospitality. I am still trying to recover from the kindergarten experience. (Laughter.) I mean, you talk about sapping a person's energy. (Laughter.) But it was a fabulous experience.

There are some signs that President is beginning to understand the severity of our economic downturn

There are serious signs that the economy is weakening and that we got to do something about it. Today we got such a sign when after 52 consecutive months of job creation, we lost 17,000 jobs. The unemployment rate went down, but nevertheless, a serious matter is that for the first time in 52 months that we didn't create jobs. And so the question is what do we do about it?

The last time he foresaw problems, just before the 2004 election, he managed to buy enough votes with a $600 tax refund to keep himself in office. This time, the stakes are higher because the future of the Republican Party is in peril, he's upped the ante to $800 per person, either that, or $200 is his idea of a cost-of-living increase for the working poor.

We got some of our citizens purchased mortgages that they can't afford now. Hopefully the reason -- hopefully they didn't get deceived, and if they did, the government has a responsibility to take care of that. ...therefore we're trying to make sure we connect the borrower with somebody in the mortgage industry that will help them refinance. And that's why we started what's called the HOPE NOW Alliance.

What? HOPE NOW? The economy's tanking and all he's got is hope? Have all the bright minds in Washington left the White House to work on campaigns?

And wouldn't casting a vote now, at this stage of the game, for hope, be a vote for Barack Obama? Did the President just endorse Barack Obama for President? Maybe Bush is finally starting to get it.