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Opinion: In today’s pages: Potter, predictions and a pop quiz

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The Times’ editorial board wraps up its American Values series with ‘The blessings of liberty’:

The Bush administration soon will be consigned to history, and not a moment too soon. The end of this cynical, mean-spirited presidency provides the opportunity for a renewal of generosity and hope, for a widening of political and cultural horizons, for a return to strength tempered by humility, for an era of decency and mutual respect rather than the blunt exercise of force. That will be the mission of the next president.

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The board also raises an eyebrow at a lawsuit filed by J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. seeking to block the publication of the ‘Harry Potter Lexicon.’

The Opinion page caps off 2007 with a quiz on the year’s ‘hard-to-forget moments,’ while columnist Joel Stein looks into his Magic 8 Ball and makes some predictions for next year. Under ‘Presidential election’:

Barack Obama wins the general election but does not carry the Northeast, due to New Englanders’ ingreasingly implausible excuse, ‘It’s not that we’re racist; it’s just that the South would never elect a black person.’

Readers weigh in on oil and green energy, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s hunting prowess and the billion-dollar child-support suit against Donald L. Bren. Snarks John Rabe,

I hereby publicly offer to be adopted by Bren. For a monthly remittance of $1,000, I promise to buy him one tie on Father’s day, one pair of slippers and/or a robe at Christmas, and one joke card on his birthday.... For my part, the contract will be considered null and void if I get a DUI, disparage Bren in public or cause the police to be called to a noisy beach-house party.

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