WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2009
Bush Gets Reflective As Term Nears End
President Discusses Legacy, Looks Toward Future For Himself, Country
-
Play CBS Video Video Bush Looks Back President Bush held his final news conference with a spirited defense of his policies and a look back at his mistakes. Jim Axelrod reports with commentary from political consultant Dan Bartlett.
-
In his final news conference Monday, President Bush said would ask Congress to release the remaining $350 billion in Wall Street bailout money if President-elect Barack Obama asked him to do so. Mr. Obama made that request shortly thereafter. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
-
Interactive Bush Presidency The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
As President Bush leaves office, we take a look back at the legacy he leaves behind.
- Saudi Prince Assails Bush's Mideast Legacy
- President Bush By The Numbers
- Two Last Pardons
- Final Hours As President
- President Bush's Last Day
- Bids Goodbye To World Leaders
- Final Poll: 22% Approval
- In Farewell, Bush Defends Record
- Video Of Final Speech | Transcript
- Bob Schieffer On Bush's Legacy
- Bush Rating Hits Historic Lows
- Presidency In Pictures
- Polls: Overall Job Ratings
Complete Coverage of The Bush Legacy
While recalling the start of his own presidency, Mr. Bush also looked forward to the challenges awaiting his successor, calling President-elect Barack Obama "a smart, engaging person" while wishing him all the best.
"This was George Bush being the son of his father, who was a very gracious person," said CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer.
As others have already started contemplating his legacy, Mr. Bush offered his own views - a noteworthy event for someone who hasn't "reflected very much, at least not in public," said Schieffer. (Read more analysis from Bob Schieffer.)
CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer called it "a defiant, wistful and sometimes unusually introspective performance." (Read more analysis from Peter Maer.)
Mr. Bush defended his decisions on the Iraq war, the issue that will define his presidency like no other. There have been over 4,000 U.S. deaths since the invasion and toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
He said that "not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment." The accusation that Saddam had and was pursuing weapons of mass destruction was Mr. Bush's main initial justification for going to war.
Mr. Bush admitted another miscalculation: Eager to report quick progress after U.S. troops ousted Saddam Hussein, Mr. Bush five years ago made a victory speech in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner, a sign that turned out to be wildly optimistic.
"In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed," he declared triumphantly May 1, 2003, from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of San Diego.
"Clearly putting 'Mission Accomplished' on an aircraft carrier was a mistake," he said in Monday's news conference.
He also defended his decision in 2007 to send an additional 30,000 American troops to Iraq to knock down violence levels and stabilize life in the country.
"The question is, in the long run, will this democracy survive, and that's going to be a question for future presidents," he said.
Mr. Bush referred to the enormous weight Mr. Obama is about to experience, describing what it might feel like on Jan. 20 when, after taking the oath of office, he enters the Oval Office for the first time as president. "There'll be a moment when the responsibility of the president lands squarely on his shoulders," Mr. Bush said.
And he gave his view of the most urgent priority facing the incoming president: the possibility of an attack on the United States. The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks changed the country and shaped his own presidency.
"That will be the major threat," Mr. Bush said, putting the risk of another attack over the dire economic problems now facing the nation.
"I wish that I could report that's not the case, but there's still an enemy out there that would like to inflict damage on America - on Americans."
While it may have been the last time Mr. Bush takes questions from the White House Press Corps as president, it likely won't be the last time he addresses the nation. Asked about prospects for a presidential farewell address, Press Secretary Dana Perino said, "It's customary and likely," reports CBS News correspondent Peter Maer.
The last previous time the president took questions from reporters in a public setting was Dec. 14 in Baghdad, a session that hurtled to the top of the news when Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes at Bush during a question-and-answer session with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Among other topics President Bush discussed:
The president says he's taken "extraordinary measures" to deal with frozen credit markets, which he says is the first step toward recovery. He says a lot of the decisions he's made have been "very aggressive" ones, aimed at keeping the financial system from "cratering." And he says lending is "beginning to pick up."
Mr. Bush also says he will always defend his position that tax cuts are the "right course of action."
Looking back on his administration's record on the economy, Mr. Bush said he inherited a recession and left amid one, but that his term in office also included 52 straight months of job growth.
"Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs" not long after the hurricane passed over the Gulf Coast.
He said it was "a devastating storm" and that hard work remains to bring New Orleans back to the kind of life people had before the hurricane that hit in the summer of 2005.
He told the press that he disagrees "strongly" with the assessment that the U.S. has been damaged by the war in Iraq or by the way the nation has gone after terrorists.
Mr. Bush says some countries criticized the American prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, but then weren't willing to take any detainees.
And he says people who criticize the way the U.S. gets information from terror suspects are asking after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks why officials in Washington hadn't been able to "connect the dots" ahead of time.
Mr. Bush says most of the world still sees Americans as a "strong, compassionate people" who care about freedom.
For years, Washington and Pyongyang have been locked in a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
Six-nation talks aimed at resolving the dispute have been stalled due to the North's refusal to accept a protocol that would allow verification of its nuclear programs' list.
Mr. Bush said Monday in a news conference that if North Korea wants to improve relations it "must honor the commitments it made to allow for strong verification measures."
He said that it was "still a problem."
Mr. Bush said that presidents can try to avoid hard decisions and controversy, but that it's not his nature to do so. He said he's been "willing to take on hard tasks," and understands that in times of war, "people get emotional."
He said he hasn't been alone in being the target of dissent. Bush said he's been reading a lot about Abe Lincoln, who he says faced his own share of criticism.
Mr. Bush said he wishes Mr. Obama "all the very best."
The outgoing president doesn't plan to maintain a high profile. He says he's leaving the stage for good, adding that there's only one president at a time.
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From Politics
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- next
See all 72 Commentswithout doubt the dumbest president in my memory...and im quite old
will be remember as of the caliber and type of a combination of harding and coolege
and the great depression that now follows will be worse than the one of my parents because this time we will have a collapse of the value of the dollar along with all the other ills
get through a press conference without scewing up
every other sentence. I always imagined the
Bush speach writers off stage with their fingers crossed saying "Please, just stick to what we rehearsed and nothing more".
Those medals of freedom he awards are nothing but War crime convictions in a medal form you can wear around your neck. I suppose we will find out someday.
It is my severe hope that Obama is the Constitutional lawyer he has trained to be and it has to be Cheney`s hope that he is not. Saddam`s rope is as good an end as any for this current administration.
A real humdinger don''t you think Schieffer?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by raflin0010 at 06:31 PM : Jan 12, 2009
+ report abuse
No, they''re as Rock-Stupid now as they were then, and think he''s the best thing that ever happened to Amur''ca....(only death cures Rock-Stupid)....
You didn''t think twice about manufacturing a war for greed and sending thousands of troops to their deaths and thousands to return either physically or emotionally maimed. You even prevented us from seeing them come home in caskets or wheel chairs--out of sight out of mind huh?
Your heII is yet to come---neither of you are welcome overseas--you might just get arrested. You''re not welcome in OUR country--and where will you possibly go here without being heckled?
May the rest of your pitiful lives keep you isolated and alone.
All the money you stole from us won''t buy you anything--least of all, your freedom.
We will be celebrating our freedom from the terrorists in Washington--scarier than any other terrorist in the world.
Posted by tiredparent
Apparently you forgot Clinton (unlike Bush) lobbed many cruise missiles at Bin Laden before 9/11.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- next
See all 72 Comments