We send out congratulations to our good friend and fellow columnist Robert Haught, who announced that his popular Potomac Junction column, which has appeared for the last 18 years in the Oklahoman, is going into retirement — "a self-imposed term limit," as he puts it.
"After 18 years of observing the shenanigans in the nation's capital, I'm inclined to agree with Will Rogers: 'Politics is the best show in America,' " Mr. Haught writes in his farewell. "But 18 years is a long time. It's the equivalent of three terms in the U.S. Senate or nine terms in the House of Representatives."
He says when he began writing his column in 1989 from the Washington bureau of the Oklahoman, "it was with full confidence that there would be no danger of running short of subject matter."
"Those expectations certainly have been realized, thanks to the performers in this three-ring circus."
As it was, he was able to chronicle for his readers the exploits of three presidents: "We've 'prudently recreated' with George H. W. Bush, marveled at the survivability of 'Bubba' Bill Clinton and watched critics 'misunderestimate' George 'Dubya' Bush," he notes. "Every administration, every congressional session, every campaign has produced a bountiful supply of amusement for those who don't take the business of government too seriously."
The columnist says it was "tempting" to keep writing until a new president is elected, "especially with the prospect of ribbing and roughing up another Clinton administration."
Mr. Haught's forthcoming book, to be published this year, is titled: "The POTUS Chronicles: Bubba Between the Bushes."