Now that all the inauguration hoopla has subsided and reality has hit the Obama administration, it's time to get down to work. Whether you voted for the guy or not, you gotta wish our new president Godspeed in getting our country back on its feet again. It should be quite interesting seeing what happens in the next 100 days.

Speaking of interesting, let's see what our past presidents are up to since their last sighting at the inauguration last week...

Jimmy Carter has recently released a timely book on how to create peace in the Middle East, entitled "We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land." Didn't he try this with Egypt and Israel back in 1978? And hasn't every president since Thomas Jefferson been trying to do this as well? Anywho, Jimmy was hawking his book on the Today Show the other day. I hope it sells well for him.

He was was also on Larry King tonight -- oddly paired up with actor Mickey Rourke. Still looking for that video highlight on YouTube. Once I find it, you bet your bottom dollar I will post it immediately.

Lastly, for Jimmy, he was auctioning off some of his original artwork last week for a worthy cause. I couldn't find any photos of his work, but this life-like picture of a peanut submarine conspicuously came up when I did a search for it on Google...

Not sure what it means, but I thought I would share it with you.

Onto George HW Bush (#41), according to nola.com, #41 and Bill Clinton were up to their Dudley Doright stuff again, speaking in New Orleans on Monday to members of the National Automobile Dealers Association. They tried to assure one of the nation's most troubled industries that it would survive all this economic disorder that has swallowed more than 2.5 million jobs in the past year.

The two also discussed regrets they had during their presidencies. Check out the footage below. Interesting stuff if you have 3 minutes to kill.

Now that I got two birds with one stone -- #41 and Bill re-living their glory days. Let's see what our most recent retiree/former president is doing. According to the Dallas Morning News, "W" and Laura took a road trip to Dallas on Tuesday to tour their new Preston Hollow home and buzz by the Preston Center building that's being readied for his office. Not sure what he’s going to do in his new office, but I guess every post president has to have one. After this relatively uneventful trip to Dallas, the Bushes returned to their Crawford ranch for the evening.

I tried to find some video of this scintillating 3-hour tour, but all I found was a bunch of big black SUVs driving around in the rain. But the video did start out with this nifty sign welcoming W and Laura home to Texas. Very nice.


That's all for now.
--atg

After the Glory: What does Bush do now?

After the historic Obama inauguration on Tuesday, Jan. 20, I wondered to myself as I watched the former President board Marine 1 (the presidential helicopter) for the last time, "What is George going to do now?" I'm sure there are throngs of folks who could give a rat's you-know-what about what he was doing or thinking this day. But I couldn't help it, as I'm strangely drawn to seeing what famous people do after their glory days have past them by -- particularly politicians. I mean they're so busy everyday dealing with a myriad of national and global issues. What a let down it must be the next day when all you have to do is read the newspaper and take out the trash.

That said, the focus of this blog will be to cover our (currently alive) past Presidents' mundane lives after they've served time in the White House. Hopefully, there will be some entertaining news about one or more of them doing something ridiculous, heroic, or scandalous that I can report to you. After all, life is indeed stranger than fiction. Take a look at George HW Bush (#41) for example. He's the only living President to have gone skydiving after leaving office. That's kinda cool.

Then there was the report I saw on ABC News about Jimmy Carter allegedly snubbing the Clintons at Tuesday's inauguration. His reply was that it was an oversight on his part. Gotta love that stuff. Check out the video below and judge for yourself. Just look at the expression on Hillary's face!

Getting back to George (#43), with all the inauguration hoopla and tedious traditions the new President had to experience that day, I couldn't help thinking what was George thinking on his way home to Texas. So I quickly searched the web for "Bush landing in Texas" news. After a short Google search, I found footage of his speech to supporters at his first stop in Midland, Texas --- on Fox News, no doubt. Sure enough, George talks about what the heck he's gonna do now. (BTW: His Texas drawl suddenly got much thicker now that he's back in the Lone Star State.) He talked about mowing the lawn, eating breakfast, reading the newspaper -- yeah, scintillating stuff. But I'm sure "W" will do some grand deeds during his post presidency days. Look forward to reporting it to you, along with what all the others will be doing.

Will Bill steer clear of any further controversy since his days as President?

Will Jimmy snub Bill again or just keep building houses for Habitat for Humanity?

Will George HW Bush (#41) jump out of any more planes or play it safe and team up with Bill again to raise funds for a global cause? (Good stuff, by the way.)

And will "W" make any more news or quietly hang out in his new swanky digs in Dallas?

One more note: former US Presidents will not be the only targets for this "aftertheglory" blog. Other past-their-prime, global dignitaries will also be reported on if they make any ripples in the news world. I mean c'mon, Cheney's gotta go hunting again.

Until next time -- grab the glory while you can.

--atg