Dave Barry on 2009, year of 'hope' and 'change'

"Dave Barry's year in review: 2009" (Dave Barry, December 26, 2009):

It was a year of Hope -- at first in the sense of "I feel hopeful!" and later in the sense of "I hope this year ends soon!"

It was also a year of Change, especially in Washington, where the tired old hacks of yesteryear finally yielded the reins of power to a group of fresh, young, idealistic, new-idea outsiders such as Nancy Pelosi. As a result Washington, rejecting "business as usual," finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it.

... BAD NEWS: The economy remained critically weak ...

... GOOD NEWS: A lot more people were tweeting....

... DECEMBER: ... President Obama, after weeks of pondering what to do about the pesky war situation he inherited, announces a decision -- widely viewed as a compromise -- in which he will send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but will name their mission "Operation Gentle Butterfly."

For this and much, much more, read the rest of the article.