If you didn’t know that George W. Bush isn’t going to become president until Saturday, I don’t blame you. Most of America seems to have judged his presidency as if he was sworn in years ago. Most presidents are given a three-month window to accomplish something before being judged, but Bush doesn’t even get three seconds. A New York Times columnist has already written a historic look back at the rule of “King George II of the Bushes,” and many have declared Bush an ineffective president who is second in command to Dick Cheney.No one seems to want to wait for a silly technicality like becoming president before judging the George W. Bush administration. The media, in their ongoing efforts to predict the future (including front-runners for the Democratic nomination in 2004), are trying to infer four or eight years from a few weeks of Cabinet picks.Bill Clinton was also judged before entering office. He was called a hick and unfit to serve. Pat Buchanan said in 1992, “Bill Clinton’s foreign policy experience is pretty much confined to having had breakfast once at the International House of Pancakes.” By 1998, citizens ranked Clinton No. 1 in foreign policy of post-war presidents. Clinton and Bush are nothing alike, though it’s easy to draw comparisons: both are baby boomers; both were governors of southern states; both were horrible public speakers; both faced legitimacy problems entering office, since Clinton won only a plurality of the popular vote.But Clinton is a true example of the American dream. He went from trailer trash to the most powerful man in the world to hitting on trailer trash. In contrast, Bush is the son of a president and the descendent of another president, Franklin Pierce (1853-1857), on his mother’s side.For all his shortcomings, Clinton is someone you can’t help but like. In contrast to Gore — whom nobody liked no matter how much they tried to force themselves to — even if you hate Clinton, you still love him. He was the most popular president since the media began keeping accurate accounts of presidents’ popularity. Toni Morrison, Chris Rock and Ice-T called him “our first black president,” which is funny for a white guy from Arkansas. Feminists loved him, even though he’s been accused of sexual harassment and rape. During the 2000 campaign, when Republicans complained endlessly about how Clinton disgraced the presidency, they always said of Gore, “He’s no Clinton.”Bush looks like a scared little kid. It was fun to see him meet with Clinton a few weeks ago. Clinton over the past eight years has developed the perfect presidential posture, and you could see Bush looking over at Clinton to try to mimic the way he stood. During the election contest, no sharp black-suit-red-tie ensemble or plethora of flags could make Bush or Gore look one-10th as presidential as Clinton. Bush has a long way to go, but so did Clinton eight years ago.It’s easiest to see Clinton’s evolution from hick to hero through late-night talk shows and “Saturday Night Live.” In the early ’90s, Clinton’s main characteristic were being fat and liking to eat at McDonald’s. The man lost weight, got a makeover and turned from “Bubba” to “Slick Willy.” Now the late-nights portray Clinton as a horny guy with bad taste.Though he went from an awkward, uncomfortable speaker to Master of the Sound bite, Clinton’s most famous line is “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” Instead of, “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America,” or his great line during the election mess, “The American people have spoken. Now it’s going to take a little while to figure out exactly what they said,” we’ll all remember, “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” Whether or not he’ll be indicted, Clinton’s certainly been hit where it counts for his misdoings.Clinton was so obsessed with his legacy, his legacy may end up being The President in Search of a Legacy. His story seems like a sad one; he had so much potential wasted by his inability to keep it in his pants. But he was actually much more successful than his detractors would have dreamed. Bush isn’t Clinton. But Bush has already pulled a big surprise — he received 9 percent of the black vote but still formed a Cabinet as diverse as Clinton’s — and he probably has a few left in him. Let’s give him a shot to prove himself and hope we’ll be surprised.Jocelyn Marcus is a junior in English from Ames. She is wire editor of the Daily.