In a year that will certainly be given the historical importance and scrutiny of, say, 1968, or maybe 1929, this foul year has seen every conceivable type of national and international drama unfold. It’s as if 2008 was the year of consequences, the hangover to the Bush administration’s bender. Just as much it was a year of hope and change (Hope and Change, actually, the latter being the variety we can believe in, copyright 2008 Barack Obama), as Americans increasingly declared to put their faith and vote in the smart guy.

President George Bush spent the year eagerly adopting a lame-duck stance and letting the candidates discuss amongst themselves what they were going to do to clean up his messes. Like an elementary school kid, letting his teachers conference with his parents about what to do about his incessant bad behavior and abysmal grades; the president has been chewing gum and idly drawing on the wall in the back of the room.

Who wants to worry about that jerk now? The year proved that we all are more than ready to let the man go. Unfortunately for John McCain, we wanted to forget about him too. Echoes of the Bush Doctrine from the McCain camp, however, sent quakes of fear through a great many of us.

Or maybe Sarah Palin was responsible for the fear I saw in so many eyes as the election neared. McCain displayed his senility, or perhaps his desperation in late August he announced his running mate to the world. By the time she’d given her first speech, at the convention, anybody but the True Believer had to wonder if the Republican candidate was trying to throw the fight, or if this transparent and pandering decision was actually going to pan out. The public was polarized, and for brief moments the “gee whiz” and “doncha know” threatened to overtake the sensibility of many otherwise reasonable people.

In May, the California Supreme Court ruled that a ban on gay marriage was a violation of the state constitution. Elation, outrage and–perhaps on both sides of the controversy–poor decision-making were to immediately follow, and the resulting push to get something on the ballot was met successful and ultimately, despite the massive outrage and protest, the proposition passed. A short honeymoon, indeed.

With the epic battle for the White House dominating most of the national attention this year, the economic crisis swelled up to unbelievable proportions and made for the largest elephant-in-the-room in memory. We wondered why they were called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We struggled to understand mortgage-backed securities, and it was repeatedly explained to us that we were all going to starve because of them .

By July, the lines of people desperate to get their money into their mattresses standing outside IndyMac locations in Southern California provided the necessary imagery: it’s as bad as the Great Depression, we started shouting.

We sure did have some laughs this year, didn’t we, gang? I can see how some of you might wish this year would never end, though some of you are probably just more afraid of what’s going to happen next year. Luckily for you, 2008 is one second longer than last year, a quirk of calendar that gives us a dearly-needed extra moment to prepare for next year.

We’re going to need any help we can get next year. Ending this year with recession, growing unemployment, collapsed financial institutions and sweeping bailouts, who the hell knows what the landscape will look like in a year.

Masochist-elect Obama will be sworn in Jan. 20 and by Valentine’s day we’ll be hearing about “Obamavilles,” as the bread lines begin to grow and the president starts to bead up with nervous sweat.

Sadly, 2009 will probably also be when kids start asking “what were newspapers?” Empty bank-owned houses will accumulate across the country, attracting squatters from the growing ranks of the homeless, who will be walling up their acquired nomad villages and practicing strange customs.

President Bush will be heard snickering as he walks out the front door of the White House, shouting “good luck, rube!” as sprints for the car. A few months later, back in Texas, Bush will get beat up at a grocery store in Crawford and I doubt anyone will help him up.

Prop 8 will likely be overturned, I think, as the sheer horror of the economy forces even the most vehement homophobes to say “sure, whatever, go ahead” as they stare, slackjawed, at the plummeting numbers on the stock ticker. I think next year we’ll see the return of the stylish barrel-with-suspenders look that was huge back in 1929.

As fantastic and long as this year has been, next year promises to be the real attraction. I think we’re going to learn a lot about things we had no idea were happening these past eight years.

The Bush hangover looks like it’s going to be a real doozy.

Cody Bishop can be reached at [email protected]