Bush's new to-do list inlcudes building library

By Ed Stoddard and Chris Baltimore

DALLAS (Reuters) - President George W. Bush may be looking for a little peace and quiet when he moves out of the White House and into a suburban Dallas cul-de-sac, but the years ahead won't be entirely leisurely.

When Bush turns over responsibility for two wars and a foundering U.S. economy to President-elect Barack Obama on January 20, he will turn to the well-trodden post-presidential path of legacy-building.

He plans to open a presidential library and a policy centre at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and write his take on the major events that shaped his presidency -- the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"He's eager to continue to promote the unwavering ideals and principles for which he has stood while serving as president of the United States," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in describing plans for the policy centre.

Though former President Bill Clinton took to the speaker's circuit to generate tens of millions of dollars for his foundation and pay off a large pile of legal bills, experts expect Bush to spend the next few years mostly getting his library and papers in order and trying to polish his tarnished reputation.

And he expects to spend plenty of time at his ranch in Crawford, telling reporters his first item of business the day after he leaves office is to brew a morning cup of coffee there for his wife, Laura.

Bush, a Republican, is leaving office after eight years with job approval ratings that have slumped in the 20s or low 30s for months. Democrat Obama is basking in wide national approval ratings and high expectations.

"The hardest part of an ex-president's life are the immediate years after the White House," said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University in Houston.