The Republicans’ omissions of praise at their recent convention for the man who’s been president the past eight years earned him the nickname, “He Who Must Not be Named.” The character Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter books is the original HWMNBN, a being so bent on death and destruction, and so feared, that his name must not be said aloud. Indeed, the many senators and couple of governors who pulled out of appearing at the convention seemed to share the view of the Potter wizards and witches. Not only were they not speaking Bush’s name — or McCain’s, for that matter — they didn’t even want to be in the same room.

ABC’s White House reporter, Martha Raddatz, knows how they feel. In blogging about a press conference today, she tried to figure out why her fellow journalists took so little interest in what Bush does, did, or will do, especially with the release of Bob Woodward’s new book. In it, the Bush administration is exposed as spying on Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al Malaki. There are also questions about Bush’s sagacity and understanding of what Iraq occupation leaders tried to tell him about “conditions on the ground.”

…with those excerpts in hand I headed into White House Press Secretary Dana Perino’s briefing this morning ready for fireworks…I asked the first question about the book, zeroing in on the spying charges, which Perino had clearly come prepared to answer.

“I would just point to the fact that we would not comment on any of the assertions in the book regarding the allegation that you brought up,” Perino said confidently…She threw in a few lines defending the president, and then answered a brief follow-up, bracing for more. It didn’t happen. Perino seemed as surprised as I was. Reporters quickly moved onto Secretary Rice’s trip to Libya and the Pakistani elections.

…the most likely reason is that President Bush is a lame duck. Take it from me. The press is paying so little attention to him that he actually looks excited to see us when he ventures out. The briefings are so sparsely attended that practically everyone there could get a front row seat. I spent my first two and a half years covering the Bush presidency filing stories for World News almost every day. But with a riveting election, and a withering economy, the White House just isn’t garnering the attention it used to. I can only imagine what the remaining few months will be like.

But here is the problem for me: In terms of television coverage, the only difference between being a lame duck president and covering a lame duck president? Lipstick.