Bush Bringing Troops Home: Too Little, Too Late

So the latest headlines from the AP announce that Bush plans to bring 8,000 troops home from Iraq.  "Great!" was my first thought, but then "only 8,000?"  And, not until February?  Bush won't even be President then.  Why not now?  Why not look like someone trying to be a hero* and bring them home at the holidays?  What about the other 138,000?  Seems like a lot of hype in the press for not a lot of real substantive action.  Someone has a serious case of lame duck-itis, sounds like to me.