364 and counting

By Carol Gee

The Great-Big-Bush-Count-Down-Deal started yesterday as those of us who have Bush countdown clocks on our websites noticed the number was 365.

I wondered how many other people were with me on this. So I did a Google search on "one year from today bush presidential term is up"; the search turned up 184,000 hits. "One year left in Bush presidency" turned up 367,000 hits. It is apparent there is a lot of interest in this new reality. Today's post is a little digest of a few of the items found in these searches.

"Mark the Date: One Year Left of Bush" was noted today by Steve Benen at The Huffington Post. Benen begins:

You may have noticed, on bumpers or t-shirts, the "1.20.09" slogan. It denotes, of course, Inauguration Day for Bush's successor.

For some unknown reason the numbers idea really caught on. A Google search on "01/20/09" turned up 424,000 hits. In fact, 1.20.09 turned out to be a money-making idea. CBS News headlined a story "One More Year To Sell '01.20.09' A Vermonter's Cottage Industry."

Out of my head's "01.20.09!!" turned me on to another website. To quote:

In case you haven’t seen the site that’s made the date 01-20-09 into a passionate campaign (and, more power to them, successful business):

http://www.bushslastday.com

Amen to that.

Bush's last day sells countdown clocks, Bush's last day buttons, magnets, decals, hats and mugs. Naturally, the site is white-on-black with big letters.

Favorite Bushisms are the focus of Progress Ohio Average Jane's enjoyable blog "1*20*09."

Bloggers with countdown clocks like the one here at S/SW are anxiously marking the days -- TXsharon wrote "It's almost over," giving me the idea for my own post here, by the way. Liberal Citizen posted "January 20th 2008-2009: One Year Left in Bush's Presidency." ReBelle Nation penned "Bush's Last Day."

Serious analytical journalism also looked at the Bush legacy. The Economist published "The Presidency -- George Bush's last year." Julie Mason of the Houston Chronicle authored "With a year to go, Bush focuses on his legacy." It is a "soft-ball" pitch by Bush 41's hometown paper. To quote:

But it's not always easy for presidents to control events. Every two-term president from Eisenhower to Bush has been saddled with a Congress controlled by the opposition during their final years in office.

Ike faced a deep recession. Richard Nixon was brought down by Watergate. Ronald Reagan struggled with staff turmoil and the Iran-Contra scandal. And Bill Clinton was impeached by House Republicans.

That's why Bush, like other second-term presidents facing a hostile Congress, is planning to spend much of his final year traveling the world.

Other bloggers tackled the legacy question -- Texas Fred's headlined, With a year to go, Bush focuses on his legacy. Sharoncobb discussed many ways to begin anew "One Year from Today." The Onion posted a very clever piece entitled "Bush Begins Preparations For Nation's Final Year."

Mike Garibaldi Frick at the The Huffington Post wrote "One Year Left -- Looking to the Future..." (11/17/07). He closes his post with these questions:

It's time to look beyond the Bush disaster. Can our institutions be salvaged? How can we put the country back on track again? Will electing a democrat take care of our worries?

Where do we go from here?

Asked for your answer -- Ask.com (a Yahoo! site) posed this question: "How are you going to react when George W. Bush Presidency is over one year from now?" In 4 hours it produced 20 answers. There are 3 days left to answer, if you would like to participate.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)