When I was about eight years old, my family visited Monticello, the historic Virginia home of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. At the gift shop there I used some of my allowance money to purchase a small white ceramic bust of Jefferson.

I decided then and there that I would collect the miniature busts of all of the presidents of the United States, and whenever my family visited a historic site or a Stuckey’s I would search for them.

Two years later I gave up on my collection, which by that time consisted of two ceramic busts of Jefferson and George Washington and a little brass one of Abraham Lincoln. My search had resulted in the knowledge that some presidents are just more memorable, and therefore more bust-worthy, than others.

In addition to being our 31st president, Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer and the author of the book Fishing for Fun–And to Wash Your Soul.

Are you searching for a Millard Filmore bust? Good luck with that. How about a commemorative plate celebrating the life and times of Warren G. Harding? Happy searching to you.

If you want to know if a president made the grade or not, just empty your pockets. If his face ended up on money, then he’s got what they call in the president game “legacy.” The fact of the matter is that all presidents get legacy, just some of them are better than others.

For example, when someone mentions the name Herbert Hoover, most people think of the onset of the Great Depression. Did Hoover start the Great Depression? Probably not. But, fair or not, he is remembered as the guy who twiddled his thumbs in the Oval Office while much of America stood in soup lines.

On the other hand, Hoover’s successor Franklin Roosevelt is remembered not only for being the president when we climbed out of the Great Depression, but for overseeing our military when America helped win World War II. Was Roosevelt a military or economic genius? Probably not. But he had the wisdom to steer the country in the right direction and surround himself with competent, self-sacrificing civil servants.

On the eve of the presidential inauguration, it is appropriate to ask what the legacy will be for outgoing President Bush and what President Obama should do to create his own legacy.

Like it or not, Bush’s legacy will be dominated by some severe negatives. He used the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as an opportunity to go after Sadam Hussein in Iraq instead of focusing our military efforts on Afghanistan where Osama Bin Laden and the terrorist group Al

Although Hurricane Katrina was definitely not Bush’s fault, the government’s response to the disaster in New Orleans was a disaster in itself, neglectful with somewhat racist overtones. Three-and-a-half years later, that city is still mired in a slow and painful rebuilding process.

Bush will also be remembered for leaving the presidency at a time when the country is in the worst economic shape since Hoover left office. His administration’s “hands off” policy when it comes to letting business regulate itself is definitely at the core of our current economic situation and he will be remembered for that until the situation is rectified.

If Obama wants to have a better legacy than Bush, he’s going to have to roll up his sleeves and clean up one hell of a mess. One of the first things he needs to do is contact every major world leader and tell them that there’s a new guy in charge and that things are going to be done differently.

Obama needs to tell the leaders of Israel that we are no longer going to give them $2.4 billion a year of U.S. taxpayers’ money to spend any way that country pleases. Right now they are using some of that money to kill innocent people in Gaza. In the 18th day of fighting, over 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli missiles, and over half of those people have been civilians including children.

I am in no way a supporter of Hammas, the political and military organization based in Gaza that would like to see nothing less than the extinction of Israel. But it has become impossible for politicians in America to criticize the military actions of Israel for fear of being branded anti-Semitic, and that’s just plain wrong.

Every time a child is killed in Gaza, Palestinians and other residents of the Arab world don’t just blame Israel, they blame the United States. You might as well just start a school to teach young Muslims to hate America.

Obama would do well to instruct the leaders of Israel and every other Middle Eastern country who receives economic or military aid from America to hop on the next plane to Washington for some straight talk on how were going to do business from now on. I know you don’t just erase 2,000 years of hatred and war over tea and biscuits. But it’s time we let them know that it’s not going to be business as usual when it comes to spending U.S. taxpayers’ money.