It happens every time a president leaves office: Some of his political appointees don't want to go, so they "burrow in" to the civil service.

It's a bit late and somewhat immaterial at this point, but it's still worth observing that President Bush today did something he said he'd never do: Agree to a firm timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

Nobody cares what President Bush has to say anymore, and that will become even more blisteringly obvious starting tonight, as he plays host to a group of world leaders worried about the international economy. Our sitting president is almost completely irrelevant, except to the extent that he can soak up blame for the world financial crisis -- and throw a good party.

Will we ever find out what President Bush really did in our name?

Nearing the bitter end of eight ruinous years in office, President Bush still won't acknowledge a single substantive thing he did wrong. Asked if he had any regrets in a CNN interview yesterday, Bush copped to a few public-relations gaffes many years ago. His tone, however, was anything but apologetic. In fact, he seemed quite pleased with himself.

It looks like the Obama White House won't be wasting any time when it comes to rolling back the Bush agenda.

Reduced to obsolescence -- and fighting off emotions -- President Bush is apparently joining the legion of Americans waiting for Barack Obama.

In selecting Rahm Emanuel to be his chief of staff, President-elect Barack Obama is telegraphing that he intends his White House to operate very differently from President Bush's.

Americans are sick to death of President Bush. They don't agree with him on the key issues of the day. They don't like the way he does his job. They don't like his worldview.

Karl Rove's dream was that George W. Bush's presidency would usher in a permanent Republican majority. But as with so many of the Bush White House's big ideas, things didn't exactly go according to plan.

President Bush is hiding from public view until the election is over -- and for good reason. But Vice President Cheney briefly emerged from the shadows on Saturday to praise the McCain-Palin ticket. And Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama quickly brandished Cheney's appearance like a cudgel.

Did we really expect President Bush and Vice President Cheney to go quietly?

During the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush famously promised to "restore honor and integrity" to the White House.

President Bush, widely perceived as an enormous drag on the entire Republican ticket, isn't exactly welcome on the campaign trail these days. But by golly he's still the party leader. So if he wants to stop by GOP headquarters to give a pep talk, who's going to stop him?

Belittled domestically, President Bush is flexing his last working muscle: His control over the nation's military. And in so doing, he is adding one last addendum to the ever-changing Bush Doctrine, establishing yet another de facto U.S. policy on his way out the door, and leaving his successor with yet another controversial precedent to wrestle with.

There is something flat-out comical about the lengths to which Republican presidential candidate John McCain has gone to avoid any contact with the incumbent president who has endorsed him as a worthy successor.

With the dead weight of the last eight years sinking his campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain yesterday made his most vigorous attempt yet to throw President Bush overboard.

President Bush isn't headlining any big political rallies this time around. Far from it.

After a closed-door meeting with a small group of central Louisiana business leaders yesterday, President Bush didn't just give the usual public pep talk about the economy. He also thanked people for praying for him.

It's hard at this point to look ahead to the presidential election and its aftermath without looking back at the wreckage. And so, in the continued avalanche of newspaper endorsements of Democrat Barack Obama, a successful presidency is frequently being defined as the precise opposite of the current one.

President Bush paid a visit this morning to the high temple of American free enterprise -- the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- in part to give another pep talk to the nation, but mostly to reassure his immediate audience that he hasn't really become a socialist.

Debating in the shadow of a financial collapse and a presidency that has been found wanting, Republican presidential candidate John McCain made his most dramatic attempt yet to distance himself from his party's leader last night.

Had they embarked on a serious inquiry into the legality, morality or even utility of torturing terror suspects, members of the Bush administration would have had no alternative but to conclude that what they were authorizing was illegal, unconscionable, and ineffective to boot. But soul-searching, evidently, was not a high priority.

Here's something to ponder: What would have happened if President Bush had listened to Paul Krugman three weeks ago instead of Henry Paulson?

When it comes to the current financial crisis, it's become pretty clear that an appearance by President Bush doesn't calm nerves. It rubs them raw.