It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it

President Bush has famously said that he expects that the next president will still have the Iraq war to deal with, and at least one prospective next president is not at all pleased.

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that President Bush has made a mess of Iraq and it is his responsibility to "extricate" the United States from the situation before he leaves office.

It would be "the height of irresponsibility" to pass the war along to the next commander in chief, she said.

"This was his decision to go to war with an ill-conceived plan and an incompetently executed strategy," the Democratic senator from New York said her in initial presidential campaign swing through Iowa.

"We expect him to extricate our country from this before he leaves office" in January 2009, the former first lady said.

And while I certainly agree that Bush SHOULD clean up his own mess, given his history in life, in business, and in the oval office to date, that doesn't seem at all likely.

But really what can we expect? The next Democratic administration is going to have to spend significant resources cleaning up the messes the Republicans have made all over the world, as well as here at home.

The other option would be another Republican administration that will only make things worse.

So Democrats, buck up. It's a dirty job, but somebody's go to do it.