Dan Froomkin's Last Column

I'm more of a Washington newcomer than a DC local, but I've enjoyed reading some of Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin's work over the last few years. The Post announced last week that they were letting him go, a bizarre move which angered a lot of readers. (One Wonkette reaction: "I wish I hadn't already canceled my subscription so I could cancel it again.") Froomkin was a better journalist than many of the Post's other columnists, and he's done some great reporting on the White House since taking the job in 2004.

His final column retrospective provides some good analysis of the media and the modern presidency. Please read it in its entirety -- and then compare it to some of the dreadful "goodbye" columns in the Cornell Sun this spring. But here's a sample, from when he reflects on Bush:

When I look back on the Bush years, I think of the lies. There were so many. Lies about the war and lies to cover up the lies about the war. Lies about torture and surveillance. Lies about Valerie Plame. Vice President Dick Cheney's lies, criminally prosecutable but for his chief of staff Scooter Libby's lies. I also think about the extraordinary and fundamentally cancerous expansion of executive power that led to violations of our laws and our principles.

And while this wasn't as readily apparent until President Obama took office, it's now very clear that the Bush years were all about kicking the can down the road – either ignoring problems or, even worse, creating them and not solving them. This was true of a huge range of issues including the economy, energy, health care, global warming – and of course Iraq and Afghanistan.