The George W. Bush Presidential Center will be dedicated today on the campus of Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. As is the custom with such events, the current president, along with every living former president, will be on hand, and I am pleased to be there to witness it. But inevitably it will be a bittersweet ceremony, because the memories of the Bush presidency are still fresh, and unfortunately there is not a lot to celebrate. They were difficult years, but also consequential ones. We need to look back no farther than the bombing at the Boston Marathon to recognize that we are still living in that era.

Bush was an extremely popular governor, and as someone who thought he was a very good one, I never expected that his presidency would take the turn that it did. He started his political career as "a uniter, not a divider," and to my dismay, ended it as one of the most divisive presidents in American history. By the halfway point of his presidency, 2004, the person I knew as Governor Bush had morphed into President Bush, a politician whom I did not recognize. It was sad, but self-inflicted.

Has anyone else noticed how innocuous the daily House calendars have been? General State is short and filled with bills of little consequence; debate proceeds at a snail's pace, maybe six bills covered in a day. Major State is primarily for Sunset bills.