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Bush's Last 100 Days Promise To Be Hectic

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The Associated Press

Published: October 12, 2008

WASHINGTON - So how will it end? President Bush is down to his final 100 days in office as of today. Don't expect a quiet fade into the Texas night.

The bleakest economic downturn in decades has changed the dynamic drastically, keeping Bush and his financial team in activist mode to the end.

While the powerful heads of the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve will be making radical moves, no one elected them. Bush is charged with reassuring the nation that an abysmal economy will give way to better days.

Bush will keep speaking about the economy, calling world leaders about it, meeting business owners, perhaps attending an overseas summit. His final act will be overseeing the $700 billion buyout of devalued assets from banks, in hopes that credit will start flowing to an anxious, weary country.

The scope of the credit crisis is so vast that it will likely overshadow anything else Bush does before he leaves office Jan. 20.

People are panicked about retirement accounts and the markets are reeling. Behind the daily drumbeat of bleak economic news, Bush leaves behind a national debt that has soared from less than $6 trillion when he took office to more than $10 trillion now.

Beyond the financial mess, there is a list of unmet goals for a president who has a history of making bold promises. But hope and time are diminishing.

Before his presidency ended, Bush wanted a Mideast peace deal built around the outlines of a Palestinian state. That is unlikely. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned in a corruption scandal, negotiations stalled and the issues that have divided the parties for decades seem as irreconcilable as ever.

The priority of pushing an international effort to rid North Korea of its nuclear arms has made late progress, but the communist country has a spotty record of following through on pledges. After North Korea relented on nuclear inspections, the United States on Saturday erased it from a terrorism blacklist. Bush's diplomats acknowledge the challenge of verifying claims from what one official calls the world's "most secret and opaque regime."

Perhaps most notably, the United States and Iraq are without an agreement governing the presence of U.S. forces after Dec. 31.

An administration's last days can be filled with desires to wrap up issues, if not desperation. Michael Green, Bush's former senior adviser on Asia, said he expects no dramatic gestures or concessions from the White House in pursuit of final deals. He said challenges such as nuclear threats in North Korea and Iran will be passed on in the best possible position, keeping diplomatic efforts intact.

"My sense is they're not going for a last-minute grab at glory that would put the next administration in a bad position," said Green, an analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Not long ago, Bush, after almost eight years and diminishing public approval, might have seemed on a path for a quiet exit. But Russia's war with Georgia, more Gulf Coast hurricanes and the worst financial crisis since the stock market crash of 1929 have pushed him back in front of the cameras.

UNFULFILLED PROMISES

President Bush wanted to reach several milestones before his term as president ends in 100 days. Here are several that are unlikely to be achieved:

•Mideast peace deal built around the outlines of Palestinian state.

•Rid North Korea of its nuclear arms.

•An agreement governing the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq after Dec. 31, when the U.N. mandate runs out.

The Associated Press

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