George W. Bush gave the final State of the Union address of his presidency Monday night to a packed House chamber crowd who dutifully obeyed the applause light that flashed over 70 times. The Los Angeles Times characterized this speech as "a short-term scramble for a long-term legacy," with the lame duck commander in chief valiantly trying to sound presidential despite receiving the lowest approval ratings of his administration.

The speech was phase two of Operation Legacy. Phase one: Bush's first ever trip to the Middle East earlier this month. With future trips planned to Asia, Africa, and Israel, it seems in his final year Bush is throwing everything up against the Legacy Wall to see what sticks. Will Bush go down in the history books, or just go down swinging? All year, we'll be analyzing every one of Bush's ass-covering moves with the 2008 LegacyWatch.

After making a hilarious joke about how the IRS wants all our money, the president moved on to other issues, announcing he'll dedicate his last year in office to ending the unpopular war he started and turning around the economic recession that happened on his watch. He also laid the groundwork for taking all the credit should the next administration manage to balance the budget his administration unbalanced. Despite the sheer balls of Bush's attempt to seem productive by fixing his own mistakes, political speeches are, by nature, all talk and no action. For now the Legacy Threat Watch remains at Level Blue: legacy chances are President Merkin Muffley-esque.