The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant was alone evidence to upset Darwin.

Palin was a political Hail Mary a long bomb in the closing minutes of a game that John McCain and Co. were certain to lose. They didn't care if she had the policy or political or emotional capacity to serve as vice president let alone president. They were willing to drive the country off a cliff if that's what it took to win.

Can anyone understand how it is to have lived in the White House and then suddenly to be living alone as the President's widow?

Here's a proposal offered only partly in jest: no resident of the United States whether born here or abroad should get to be a citizen until age 18 at which time each such resident has to take a test.

Credit or debit cards for starters are nothing short of shoppers' Novocain. Even in the age of digital purchases and virtual money we still attach a special value to dirty paper with pictures of presidents on it. Handing some of that to a cashier simply hurts more than handing over a little sliver of plastic.

As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days.

Thomas Jefferson once said 'We should never judge a president by his age only by his works.' And ever since he told me that I stopped worrying.