Those clocks that countdown until January 20, 2009, the day Bush leaves office, may actually be fairly popular in the White House, according to a post by publius at Obsidian Wings. He suggests Bush is simply "running out the clock" until he can dump his problems, primarily the war, on the next administration:

Although the surge gives the appearance of action, it’s actually just postponing the inevitable. That’s because the surge does not address -- and isn’t intended to address -- the underlying political and ethnic divisions that are the source of our problems. Instead, the surge is intended to provide temporary calm to facilitate a political resolution. The surge thus depends on, and presupposes, an accompanying political strategy.

Has the administration given up? Are they too bogged down in domestic squabbles with a now-
Democratic Congress? Or, is this just more of the same from an administration characterized by delusional idealism, gross incompetence, and self-righteous indifference?