He told you so

Dubya, today, on poverty in America:

THE PRESIDENT: ... I think that what a lot of Americans saw [with Katrina] was a -- some poverty that they had never imagined before ... But this is an issue that this country must continue to address. Poverty is an issue that's an important issue. And poverty exists in New Orleans, Louisiana, and it exists in rural Texas, and it needs to be addressed in a significant way.

Dick Cheney, the point-man for ridiculing VP candidate John Edwards' Two Americas theme from the campaign last year:

Q Good morning, Mr. Vice President. It's an honor to speak with you. Your opponent talks about two Americas. And I was just kind of wondering what your vision of America was.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: My opponent talks about -- oh, you're talking about John Edwards?

Q Yes. (Laughter.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay. Well, I've always had a problem with this notion that you should try to build a political career or an election victory trying to peddle the notion of class warfare, or that there were two different Americas. I fundamentally don't believe it. (Applause.)

You can -- you go look at history, or at least the history I learned about the United States, and I think it's true, I think it's the way it's worked for a lot of us. Some of us are more fortunate than others, obviously. But the fact is that we all start, I believe, in the United States, at least to a greater extent than any other society on the face of the Earth with the opportunity to achieve whatever you're capable of achieving, that is; for the most part, a meritocracy ...

Note also that Bush has also adopted another stance previously ridiculed by Cheney, on energy conservation. Dubya might have more than one reason to finally level with the country about, if nothing else, Cheney's chronic heart problems.