Today, President George W. Bush gave his final press conference as his administration winds down. It was a way for him to thank the White House press corps as well as yet another of his "exit interviews." Bush admitted some mistakes—"Clearly putting a'Mission Accomplished' (banner) on an aircraft carrier was a mistake. It sent the wrong message"—while defending himself on other matters, such as Hurricane Katrina and whether America's stature in the world fell during his presidency:
I've thought long and hard about Katrina -- you know, could I have done something differently, like land Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. The problem with that and -- is that law enforcement would have been pulled away from the mission. And then your questions, I suspect, would have been, how could you possibly have flown Air Force One into Baton Rouge, and police officers that were needed to expedite traffic out of New Orleans were taken off the task to look after you?
...I strongly disagree with the assessment that our moral standing has been damaged. It may be damaged amongst some of the elite, but people still understand America stands for freedom, that America is a country that provides such great hope...
Bush counted Abu Gharib and not having weapons of mass destructions as disappointments, "I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were -- things didn't go according to plan, let's put it that way." But he also gave, what the NY Times called a "rousing defense of his record on fighting terrorism," "Do you remember what it was like right after September the 11th around here? In press conferences and opinion pieces and in stories -- that sometimes were news stories and sometimes opinion pieces -- people were saying, how come they didn't see it, how come they didn't connect the dots? Do you remember what the environment was like in Washington? I do." You can read the transcript here and here's video:
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Referring to Obama's inauguration next week, Bush said he considered himself "fortunate to have a front-row seat on what is going to be an historic moment for the country." But before then, Bush will speak directly to the American public on Thursday night at 8 p.m. for 10-15 minutes. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "He will reflect on his time in office and the ways our country has changed these past eight years. He will also uphold the tradition of presidents using farewell addresses to look forward — by sharing his thoughts on greatest challenges facing the country and on what it will take to meet them."
