On my way to a meeting this morning, I had put some time aside to have a cup of java with mi madre at her place. I turned CNN on and unexpectedly found a live shot of Former President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton sitting in the East Room of the White House. I turned up the volume and heard the old familiar voice of George W Bush and realized it wasn't a dream...the nightmare continues.

Glancing at the bottom of the screen, it read they were unveiling the official portraits of our Former President and First Lady for the White House.

Bush continued to introduce Former President Clinton and Senator Rodham Clinton with hokey pokey gibberish which had been written down on a piece of paper and on the teleprompters before him; he spoke about the Clinton's childhoods, when the couple met each other, the Former First Mother and other meaningless information...regarding the unveiling, and ironically skipping over anything pertaining to Clinton's eight year term in the White House.

Incidentally, Former President Clinton's first trip to the White House as a child is more important than any of these issues??

peace in the Middle East, Arms Control, Peace in Bosnia with NATO and installing peacekeepers, peace in Kosovo, nearly 23 million new jobs, moving record deficits to record surplus, protected 60 million acres of heritage forests, saving social security, adopted the most stringent air pollution standards, clean water act, safeguarded national wildlife refuge, created 84 million-acre coral reef ecosystem reserve, blocked harmful offshore oil drilling, act for the right-to-know about chemicals and toxins, expanded recycling of waste materials, the food quality safety act, education, crime, lowest federal spending as a share of the economy...etc...etc...etc...

Then the Former President stepped up to the podium to speak about how it was a great honor and how it was "wonderful to be back in the place we called home for eight years." As he was speaking I was interrupted by my mother who was handing me tissues while patting my back and saying "don't worry, he was a once in a lifetime president."

Listening to Former President Clinton speak while reading the ticker below "Baghdad bomb kills 13 -- 4 British soldiers face Iraq abuse charges," was surprisingly more emotional than I would have thought, especially since similar headlines occur everyday.

Only it was different today, because I was reminded that if our former leader was still in office, I would not be reading these tragic headlines and those 13 people killed by a bomb in Baghdad...those fathers, mothers, sons, daughters would still be alive, as would thousands of others.

So, I had to quickly wash my face, wash away my teary eyes and head off off to my meeting.