"4 More Years of Decline"

Peter Preston writes in the Guardian that the second Bush term will be filled with mediocrities. "No one, it seems, is very keen on joining this supposedly refreshed administration. No one (least of all Rudy Giuliani) sees their future there. That's no surprise when you think about it, though. For there is no future that Bush can offer beyond four more declining years."

Preston notes the lack of star power in the new Cabinet heads. "None of this makes the next four years a kinder, gentler time; least of all a more competent one. It is a curse beyond nanny, the curse of exhaustion and ambition and greed and hard calculation."