LAT on Bush foreign policy

In a front page piece today, the LAT's Paul Richter argues that the Bush administration will be managing crises and tidying up messes during its final year in office rather than reaching legacy milestones, "as officials recently had hoped." How does he know? Did someone tell him that, and if so why does he not credit that person? Or is it a figment of Richter's imagination? If only reporters would stick to reporting.