Farewell to Crawford

George W. has left his Crawford ranch for the last time as president, having spent almost a sixth of his eight year term in the bleak countryside west of Waco—a full 490 of his 2,922 days in office, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News. The Boston Globe has been assessing the importance to Bush’s presidency of the Crawford ranch and his hours clearing brush. “It got created out of the crucible of a need for image-making,” explains Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley. “Don't have him as the Yalie cheerleader or the silver-spoon kid from a wealthy family. The image working around him became Crawford." University of Massachusetts at Boston historian Vincent Cannato agrees Crawford was important for defining Bush’s image as a regular guy. "It's not Washington. It's in the middle of nowhere. It's not trendy. It's not hip. There's no Starbucks there,” he explained. “It's more middle than Middle America." Although the president told reporters in 2001, “It'll be the house where I live in for the rest of my life,” he and Laura have bought a home in Dallas, Texas, where he takes up residence on January 20.