| Jan 1 @ 6:18 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 4,526
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Bush pushed out of the limelight
CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush's final-year agenda is a stripped-down list of what he can realistically hope to get done, since the clout he once touted is fading away.
Bush will venture to four other continents, get more involved than ever in trying to forge Middle East peace, and continue to command two wars that assure his relevancy to the end. As Iraq improves, he must now deal with renewed violence in Afghanistan and upheaval in Pakistan.
At home, Bush will try to extend two domestic achievements that are dear to his legacy — the No Child Left Behind education law, and tax cuts that otherwise expire in 2010.
Long gone are the big ideas of Social Security and immigration reform, which collapsed on Capitol Hill. His final State of the Union speech in late January is expected to reflect today's policy reality, eschewing new initiatives in favor of unfinished proposals.
As at any time, Bush has forces pushing against him. But the ones in 2008 are stronger.
A hostile Congress awaits the president as he returns from fishing, cutting brush and clearing trails at his secluded Texas ranch. Bush and the Democratic Congress clashed all year on the war, spending, health care and tactics for interrogating terror suspects.
"It's going to be a year of angst and struggle — more of '07," said James Thurber, an American University political scientist who researches relations between the two branches.
In political terms, Bush's last year in office is really less than 12 months.
The attention of the nation and much of the world has shifted to those who want his seat in the Oval Office. The Republican nominee for president could be settled by the multistate primaries on Feb. 5, meaning someone else will be the unofficial head of the party.
The opportunity for legislation in the election-year will be short, too, as little is expected to get done after Congress adjourns for a summer break. Democrats are gunning for the White House and the bigger majorities they need to govern Congress as they want.
Bush's year begins with a nine-day trip to the Middle East, a hands-on peacemaking venture that could shape his legacy — a word that Bush and his senior aides don't use.
Starting Jan. 8, the president is scheduled to travel to Israel, the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The trip is exactly the kind of process-driving diplomacy that Bush has avoided in the past, said Jon Alterman, a Mideast expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. It reflects how his presidency has gone, Alterman said, as Bush once talked of bold transformation but now tries to shepherd more incremental progress.
The latter approach is favored in the Middle East, but Bush's waning power will follow him, Alterman said. Some leaders don't want to give concessions to a short-term president.
"Friends and foes in the Middle East at a senior level have almost no curiosity about what the last year of this presidency holds," Alterman said.
The Mideast trip sets the tone for a busy year of foreign travel.
In February, Bush is expected to visit Africa to promote the global fight against AIDS, and highlight the United States' role in that effort.
He will also go to Romania in April for a NATO summit; to Japan's Lake Toya in July to meet with leaders of industrialized countries; to China in August for the Summer Olympics; and to Peru in November for the annual summit of leaders of Pacific Rim nations.
It is common for presidents to head abroad in their final year as the domestic consumption of their message diminishes. But Bush's aides say most of his trips would have happened in any year, and the narrative that Bush is escaping overseas is overstated.
Bush's State of the Union will be one of his final times in command of a prime-time audience. He is expected to use it to rally support for unfinished items, such as expanding the domestic energy supply and health care options, as opposed to last-minute policy ideas.
"We understood after immigration reform failed that this is not a Congress that's likely to pass big things," said Ed Gillespie, the president's counselor. "Once they adjourn for the Fourth of July, it's hard to imagine they'll do much beyond appropriations bills. That's a realistic assessment, and the State of the Union will likely reflect that."
Bush invoked his veto power like never before in 2007, with effectiveness. But it may have erased what little chance was left of broad, meaningful compromise with lawmakers.
Lots of key items remain to be done, including terrorist surveillance legislation.
The president is also likely to stick to economic themes in 2008. He is aware that the public is frustrated and restless, which could sink Republicans in the next election.
His message is that his administration is trying to help people deal with their mortgage crises, energy bills and education concerns.
"The underpinnings of our economy have proven strong, competitive, and resilient enough to overcome the challenges we face," Bush said Monday in his end-of-the-year message. It is just that kind of rosy picture that leads his Democratic foes to say Bush is out of touch.
Still looming, as always, is the fate of the war in Iraq.
Continues in link at top.
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| Jan 1 @ 6:33 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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kjac
Posts: 5,484
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Wal-Mart sells a countdown calendar to the end of the error. They have the wall size and desk sized ones as well. I keep forgetting to pick one up.
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| Jan 1 @ 6:46 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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Nightowl001
Posts: 4,087
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A friend of my son's has a "Bush Countdown" clock on her MySpace page!
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| Jan 1 @ 6:49 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 4,526
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So who do you think will get the last-minute Presidential pardons?
Will they be auctioned off, like the Clintons? Or will he simply give pardons to all his staffers, in case details emerge later of their perfidity?
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| Jan 1 @ 6:51 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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MusicMonster
Posts: 2,954
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I'd rather he'd just stay in Crawford and keep fishing.  And maybe trying to learn how to ride a horse or something...
It always concerns me greatly when he gets involved with global matters, and especially if he goes abroad, to theoretically represent us globally.  But at least the CIA thwarted his agenda regarding Iran.
Clearly such things are not his forte. Better I think, if he just puts things on hold, awaiting his replacement.
-MM 
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| Jan 1 @ 6:58 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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Nightowl001
Posts: 4,087
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I think most of his buddies are so well insulated from the actual people who get their hands dirty that he won't issue many pardons. His father didn't issue many, either.
I'd be willing to bet that his attempt to get his tax cuts put in place permanently won't fly. Only an idiot wouldn't KNOW that whoever the next president turns out to be, they will have to raise taxes. Government revenues are going to have to increase in order to meet rising costs, which might be met by general revenue increases from taxable income, if incomes keep up with the admittedly low inflation rate. But someone is going to have to pay for this war at some point.
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| Jan 1 @ 7:24 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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lefthandedluckie
Posts: 5,023
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Once you take into account the price of gasoline and other petroleum products...add into this mess the rise of every product across the board from the continued high price of everything touched by petroleum...then add in the top down budgeting process of the republicans......I just want someone to tell me and not any of the usual suspects, how these departments are running in Washington?
Is Bush cutting personnell and vehicles...reusing typing paper and printer ink cartridges...what?
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| Jan 1 @ 7:29 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 4,526
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Reused typing paper can't be accidentally deleted from a hard drive like emails.
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| Jan 1 @ 7:40 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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lefthandedluckie
Posts: 5,023
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SNG....you are right only one guy is needed for that unless....he has a brain like Bush's! Then it will take 8!!
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| Jan 1 @ 8:00 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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Jankia
Posts: 9,088
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and yet none are worthy to start a new clock with.Maybe the clock isnt running down on Bush as much as its running down on our countries moral democracy.
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| Jan 1 @ 8:04 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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kjac
Posts: 5,484
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Every single candidate is a better option than the current administration. Especially where things such as morals are involved.
With the exception being the loon who wants to bomb Mecca of course.
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| Jan 1 @ 11:23 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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MusicMonster
Posts: 2,954
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Hear! Hear!! Any one of them!! Even the worst of the lot!
Who wanted to bomb Mecca?
Is Bush cutting personnel and vehicles...
Bush certainly did that with the VA for one.. Major national personnel cutbacks, shut down a BUNCH of VA Medical Centers all around the country, lots of staff layoffs.. Charges the Vets a lot more for their VA services now, some 300% increases during his watch. Made such services unavailable to many of them.
All to pour that money into his war in Iraq, which is ironically producing a lot more disabled Vets who now desperately need the VA. But little of this is widely publicized. You have to find it at places like military.com.
-MM 
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| Jan 2 @ 12:11 AM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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Novalite
Posts: 3,009
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I'm looking forward to him going too. Hope a democrat gets in.
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| Jan 2 @ 8:55 AM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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Paralegal_at_Law
Posts: 5,066
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I'm looking forward to George W. Bush going too. Hope a conservative democrat or another republican gets in!
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| Jan 2 @ 11:27 AM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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MusicMonster
Posts: 2,954
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What I suggest Cheney has been for Bush for all these years, was not only a hawkish advisor, who, like Bush, enjoys the concept of waging war around the globe, but one who functions as an insurance policy against impreachment.
This may well have been a campaign strategy of Karl(Bush's Brain)Rove, and one that was well thought out in advance.
-MM 
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| Jan 2 @ 11:56 AM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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LipGlossQueen9
Posts: 10,079
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On midnight on Jan. 1st, instead of running outside and screaming "HAPPY NEW YEAR", I ran outside and screamed "HAPPY LAST YEAR OF BUSH!!!"
I've been waiting for this since the travesty that was Election 2000. Seriously.
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| Jan 2 @ 12:05 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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kattsmeow
Posts: 21,230
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I've been waiting for this since the travesty that was Election 2000 
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| Jan 2 @ 5:41 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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kjac
Posts: 5,484
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Hey, are we all forgetting the many accomplishments GW has done.
He led us back into a recession.
He led us into two wars with no exit strategy for either.
He led the charge against the environment. (And later recanted)
He led the way for America to start openly torturing people again.
A natural born leader. 
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| Jan 2 @ 5:47 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency
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LipGlossQueen9
Posts: 10,079
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And didn't even need Daddy's help, either.
Hey, yano what I always say to all these fools who jumped on the Hating Bush bandwagon in 2004? (i'm joking)
I HATED BUSH BEFORE IT WAS COOL, BITCHES 
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| Jan 2 @ 5:53 PM |
Clock running down on Bush presidency |
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kjac
Posts: 5,484
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I can top that LGQ. I was once kicked out of a person's home for stating that the sicko Bush would use 9/11 for political gain. That was in early 2002.
Called it... swish, nothing but net.
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