Last 100 days in office 'no letting up' for Bush

US: So how will it end? President George W. Bush is down to his final 100 days in office as of Sunday. 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 the Federal Reserve keep making radical moves, no one elected them. Bush is the one charged with reassuring the nation that an abysmal economic period will give way to better days, even if he is long gone from Washington by the time that happens.

The President will keep speaking about the economy, calling world leaders about it, meeting with 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.

"It looks like I'm going to have a lot of work to do between today and when the new president takes office," Bush said this past week. The scope of the credit crisis is so vast that it will likely overshadow anything else Bush does before he leaves office on Jan. 20.

Bush has made clear to those who work for him that he wants a smooth transition to the next president. In terms of the sheer time and energy involved, Bush counselor Ed Gillespie said, "I suspect the last 100 days are going to feel more like the first 100 days than any of us would have hoped."

The last days of an administration can be filled with desires to wrap up issues, if not desperation.

Washington, Sunday, AP