It's like winning... but it's not.

Coming up on this weekend's show:

• Quitting Smoking
• Five steps to dealing with hangovers
• Zen Koans with Ben Cohen
• Career Advice
• The Car of The Future
• Much Much More?

As a liberal I feel it's my duty to stand up for the little guy. It is in that vein that I feel obliged to stand up for George W. Bush, our president and one of the most unpopular people in the world.

For all his faults, President Bush has done nearly all the things that truly great leaders do. His problem isn't so much with his methodology as with his results.

Just this week, he bravely broke with the tradition of throwing out the first pitch at the start of the baseball season. Not since 1910 has any President declined this honor bestowed by our national past time. Sure, some people think that this was an act of cowardice; that his abysmally low poll ratings ensured that he would step out onto the field to a cacophony of boos and public humiliation. I see it as an act of bravery. Clinton wasn't so bold as to leave baseball to the experts, neither was Reagan or Roosevelt or even Nixon. Give the man his due, he's taking this presidency to a whole new level.

Look at his unprecedented appointment of Sam Fox to be Ambassador of Belgium. When Sam Fox, Swift Boat ad creator and huge Republican cash cow was rejected by the Senate, Bush just waited until they went on recess and made him a recess appointment. No president has ever thought to do this before. In fact no president has ever made a recess appointment until after 14 days had past. Anyone else would've thought that it was unseemly or would be un-ethical but Bush knew it was the only way to return a favor to a man who had donated so much money and so he pushed on through to meet his objective without regard to appearances or tradition. Hey it's legal, that's good enough for The President and should be good enough for us.

Likewise this whole Attorney General scandal is also perfectly legal. Any other president could've replaced prosecutors mid-term and for political reasons, they just weren't bold or decisive enough to do so. That past presidents were too timid to exercise their power is no reason to punish Bush.

These are all the kinds of things that great men have done from time to time. Look at FDR who, many think, allowed Pearl Harbor to be attacked in order to get around the Republican isolationists who refused to let him fight Hitler. That was totally unethical and probably illegal and we revere him for his bold leadership.

The only difference between bold men like Roosevelt, Lincoln, or even Kennedy is that when they made bold moves of questionable ethics and legality, it worked. We, the people, will put up with all manner of power grabbing, backroom dealing and downright criminal behavior from our leaders when they do a good job. Great men take great risks and succeed and we love them for it. Bush has taken great risks, the only thing separating him from greatness is that he consistently makes a big gamble or takes a big risk and then screws it all up. Theoretically, he's making bold moves and re-defining the presidency just like all the greats did. It's only the small matter of his continual failure that keeps him from success.