President George W. Bush is starting to write the first draft of his own history, starting with a confession of mistakes in his final news conference Monday, and continuing Thursday with a prime-time address from the White House.

In Monday’s news conference, he was forthright about what he considers errors: “Clearly, putting a ‘mission accomplished’ on [an] aircraft carrier was a mistake,” he said, referring to the banner strung across the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, where he landed several weeks after the invasion of Iraq to declare that major combat operations were finished.
“Obviously, some of my rhetoric has been a mistake,” said the president, who has said previously that he regrets calling for Osama bin Laden to be captured “dead or alive” and taunting the nation’s enemies to “bring them on.”
But he also showed a hint of his sense of humor — and a grasp of his own verbal shortcomings — while talking with reporters: “Sometimes you misunderestimated me.”

In that vein, here’s a look at his presidency — plus some of the (mostly) lighter moments of the past eight years. {Los Angeles Times}

budget
Bush inherited a federal budget that had just posted a record $236 billion surplus, but the U.S. government’s fiscal picture deteriorated sharply on his watch. The deficit for the recently completed 2008 budget year registered a record $455 billion, and the 2009 deficit is sure to be far worse — the latest estimate is $1.2 trillion.

economy
There have been two recessions during his time in office. The first was a relatively mild downturn that began in March 2001, just after he took office, and lasted eight months. The second downturn began December 2007 and has already lasted longer than any recession in a quarter century.

environment
Bush stopped further consideration of the Kyoto Protocol and its emission cuts, and successfully fought any attempts in Congress to impose mandatory caps on carbon dioxide. But his efforts to streamline clean air regulations fizzled. The administration fulfilled its promises to scale back federal wetland standards.

energy
The Bush administration fulfilled its promise to give energy companies greater access to tens of thousands of acres of federal land in the West. It also got more support for nuclear energy, and it won support for a dramatic increase in the use of ethanol as a substitute for gasoline. Congress recently followed Bush’s lead and ended the long-standing ban on offshore oil drilling along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

war
Bush and Cheney pledged during the 2000 campaign that “help is on the way” for a military they said had been overused by the Clinton administration. In the wake of Sept. 11, the military is more stretched and stressed than most could have imagined. Land forces have been transformed to fight insurgencies, but at enormous cost in blood and treasure.

health care
The largest expansion ever of Medicare took place under Bush’s watch with the addition of a prescription drug benefit that eased the financial burden of millions of seniors and the disabled. At the same time, the ranks of the uninsured grew from 38.4 million in 2000 to 45.7 million in 2007.

education
One year after taking office, Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, which aimed to close the achievement gap between white and minority children. Spending has been about $25 billion a year, more than earlier spending but nearly $11 billion less annually than promised, critics say.

justice and terror
The Bush administration pushed executive authority to its limits — and the Constitution’s — in dealing with terror suspects, both in the United States and at a detention center at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Federal courts overruled the president in both areas.

reputation abroad
Bush marshaled enormous global support in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks during his first year in office, and quickly lost much of it. People in Europe as well as the few allies in the Muslim world clucked that he squandered the goodwill by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Much of the world accuses Bush of inhumane tactics in the global fight against terrorism. {AP}

End of an error
President George W. Bush will leave behind a legacy of Bushisms, the label stamped on the commander in chief’s original speaking style. Some of the president’s more notable malaprops and mangled statements:

•••• “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.”
— September 2000, explaining his energy policies at an event in Michigan.

•••• “Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?”
— January 2000, during a campaign event in South Carolina.

•••• “It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber.”
— April 10, 2002, at the White House, as Bush urged Senate passage of a broad ban on cloning.

•••• “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
— Sept. 17, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn.

•••• “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
— Aug. 5, 2004, at the signing ceremony for a defense spending bill.
•••• “Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.”
— Sept. 6, 2004, at a rally in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

•••• “Thank you, Your Holiness. Awesome speech.”
— April 16, 2008, at a ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the White House.

•••• “The fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there’s jobs at the machine-making place.”
— May 27, 2008, in Mesa, Ariz.
{AP}
It was funny
On the bright side, your favorite and funniest moments from the past eight years.

This is my all time favorite [Bushism]: “We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin’ out of business. Too many O-B-G-Y-N’s aren’t able to practice their … their love with women all across this country.’ Thank God he will be gone!
Colleen Rukowicz | Eastwood

In general it’s his command of the English language. He gave people like me much more confidence when it comes to public speaking.
Brian Krista | b

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield one day dressed in black from head to sex boot, errr… I mean toe. Rice’s pointy-toed, spiky-heeled, knee-high leather boots seem more fitting for an S&M bar rather than a military base but who knows, maybe we’ve had a dominatrix under our noses for the past four years!
Tim Wong | b

The dancing Bush e-mails; the picture after Katrina with Shrub and Poppy speedboating and fishing in a ruined [New Orleans]; the Curious George T-shirts; Will Ferrell’s and Darrell Hammond’s “SNL” skits. He was just funny.
George Faber | Fells Point

Cheney “accidentally” shooting his friend in the face while hunting. He’s probably the only person who could send a friend to the hospital and have him apologize for the incident. Way to use those mind tricks, Dick. Just don’t come near me with a gun.
Marissa Richardson | b

Picking a favorite Bush moment is like picking a favorite Britney Spears meltdown moment. So. Many. Choices. But one of the best is the video of Bush giving an awkward half-massage greeting to the shoulders of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who clearly grimaces in response. Can we blame her? Check it out on YouTube by searching for “Bush Gropes Merkel,” if you can stand typing those words.
Jordan Bartel | b

I have to say that, while I don’t necessarily approve of the shoe-throwing bandit’s actions, the look on G.W.’s face was priceless as he watched some crazed man’s loafers soar toward his noggin. His thoughts could have been straight out of “Austin Powers:” “Who throws a shoe?! I mean, honestly?!” … except with a deep southern accent and a strange grin on his face.
Caitlin Ann | Fells Point

“America needs a military where our breast and brightest are proud to serve.”
Nancy Bosley | b

I love the “fool me once … can’t get fooled again” moment. The puzzled look on his face when he realized he didn’t remember the saying is priceless. And the fact that he was talking about fools is just icing on the cake.
Adam Sapiro | b

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