The Washington Post prints what I imagine is a template for many bon-voyage-Bush pieces to come. It’s an update of a familiar template, too — Bush Vs. Reality. The structure at work is simple enough: a reporter allows Bush aides to issue Praise-Dear-Leader quotes while gently shaking his head at the awful state of thing. Consider:

"His high energy level and spirit sets the tone for the rest of us," said Kevin Sullivan, Bush’s communications director. "There’s been no time to worry about any of this other stuff. . . . He believes the American people expect us to finish strong and to leave things in the best possible position for his successor."

Others inside and outside the administration, however, say the upbeat talk masks disappointment and frustration among many White House staffers, who believe Bush’s reputation has been unfairly maligned for a series of calamities — from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to the financial crisis — that were beyond his control and which he handled well. GOP nominee John McCain’s escalating attacks on Bush’s tenure have added to irritation, these people said.

I suppose if I were a conservative Dan Eggen’s tone would get my goat. But if anything, Eggen doesn’t go far enough in connecting Bush’s historic low approval rating to the fact that he has run the first true failed administration of modern times. Conservatives really no longer have a right to laugh at Jimmy Carter, since Carter is Abe Lincoln compared to a man who launched two wars simultaneously, misled the country into one, failed to win both, mismanaged an economy into a severe recession with global consequences, lost a major American city to a hurricane… No one reading this really needs me to go through the litany. But it’s not an accident or a bum rap or a quirk of group psychology that the country has a poor opinion of a man who did nothing right.