Bush's Last Year: Lame Duck?

May 5, 2008 — -- Relaxing at the ranch. Planning to write a book. Light-hearted banter with the White House press corps. A Middle East peace initiative.

President Bush may not want to admit it, but those activities are all the hallmarks of a lame-duck president, judging by previous examples from George Washington to Bill Clinton.

The president still has almost eight months to go before his successor is sworn in Jan. 20, 2009.

And he's got an ambitious agenda from his initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and his push to make his first-term tax cuts permanent to encouraging oil drilling in northern Alaska and modernizing the Federal Housing Administration.

"My mind is on finishing my job, doing my job," Bush told ABC News' Martha Raddatz last month.

But his recent behavior certainly seems like that of a president on his way out of office, say presidential historians and inside-the-Beltway observers.

And in the president's last year, Bush's lame-duck status seems to mirror some of his predecessors by combining the laid-back attitude and good-natured charm of Clinton, the stubborn commitment of Harry Truman to an unpopular war and the disappointment with his reputation of Woodrow Wilson.

During the recent interview, Bush showed Raddatz the mountain bike trails he's been building on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and the lake where he goes fishing with Barney, his Scottish terrier.

And he showed her his office -- "that's where I'm planning on writing a book. … This is a place where I can come and hang out."

And then there have been moments of off-the-cuff frivolity. Video of Bush tap-dancing while waiting to have lunch with John McCain at the White House became a hit on YouTube in March. Later that month, he fantasized about his future away from politics, singing a little ditty at the Gridiron Club dinner:

"Little Crawford looks the same, as I step down from the plane. … That old White House … is behind me. I am again carefree."

Similarly, Clinton seemed to enjoy his last few months, making an infamous video that showed him bicycling in the basement of the White House, clumsily answering phones and preparing lunch for his wife.