He said WHAT??? Shrub today said that he was sorry for the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners. Well, how good of little George to finally say those two little words, "I'm sorry."

And with that, it looks like he might finally be moving out of the pre-operational stage (2-7 yrs old) and into Piaget's next stage of development, the concrete operational stage (7-11 yrs old). The preoperational period is characterized as:

Speech becomes more social, less egocentric. The child has an intuitive grasp of logical concepts in some areas. However, there is still a tendency to focus attention on one aspect of an object while ignoring others. Concepts formed are crude and irreversible. Easy to believe in magical increase, decrease, disappearance. Reality not firm. Perceptions dominate judgment.
In moral-ethical realm, the child is not able to show principles underlying best behavior. Rules of a game not develop, only uses simple do's and don'ts imposed by authority.

Of course, Shrub still exhibits signs of being stuck in the preoperational period:
Intuitive grasp of concepts in some areas? (actual policy) Check.
Tendency to focus on one aspect while ignoring others? (obsessed with Saddam, ignore Osama) Check.
Concepts formed crude and irreversible? (war in Iraq; tax cuts for wealthy; environmental rollback) Check.
Belief in magical increase, decrease, disappearance? (WMD, joblessness, deficit) Check.
Not able to show principles underlying best behavior in moral realm? (lies, lies, more damned lies) Check, check, and check.
Simple do's and don'ts imposed by authority? (with us or against us) Check.

I'd say that Shrub still has some growing to do before he's fully in the next stage. But he is making progress. And in the interest of being objective, I try to recognize that growth and give credit where credit is due. Kudos to you, George, for apologizing. Here's a star for you. Unfortunately, most in the Middle East think it's too little, too late.