Bush

English: Bush's last press conference French: Bush ne regrette rien **LEA** C.Schnoor **Bush's Last Press Conference: Full of Disappointment** By  Monday, Jan. 12, 2009 In the current Administration's waning days, Americans have struggled to find a single word that would encapsulate history's judgment on the two-term presidency of [|George W. Bush]. The left has offered //disastrous,// citing the damage they see inflicted on the country by Bush's foreign policy and economic stewardship. The right has countered with //secure,// arguing that another 9/11 was prevented by Bush's taking the fight to terrorists at home and abroad. But in what the White House says will be his final press conference on Monday, President Bush himself provided the word everyone has been looking for: //disappointment//. The President used the word in one sense or another more than a dozen times in the course of his parting exchange with the White House media corps. But it was the quality, rather than the quantity, of its use that was most telling. The more he uttered //disappointment,// the more fraught it sounded, until it was delivered not just with his signature shoulder-hunching emphasis but with a kind of protestation that seemed to carry the full weight of his historic fall from nearly 90% approval ratings after 9/11 to his current tally of less than 30%, a record low. Bush was asked yet again if he thought he had made any mistakes. As he has done since John Dickerson first asked him that question four years ago, the President ran for the safety of history. "There is no such thing as short-term history," he said, and he laid out his familiar assertion that his presidency will look different to historians than it does in its current historically unpopular state. Bush then broke with his own tradition and weighed in on some mistakes. The "Mission Accomplished" banner brandished during his aircraft-carrier appearance two months after the invasion of Iraq gave the wrong impression about his and his Administration's assessment of progress in the war, he said. He then referred obliquely to mistakes in some of his own "rhetoric"; Bush has said that his vow to catch Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" and his challenge to America's adversaries to "bring 'em on," among other cavalier comments, were unhelpful, and that is presumably what he was hinting at here. But Bush quickly moved on to things he wasn't sure he would count as mistakes; instead, he labelled them "disappointments." Among things Bush found disappointing: the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the failed response to Hurricane Katrina and the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after all. As the press conference continued, Bush kept coming back to the word. On the political environment in the capital, he said, "I am disappointed by the tone in Washington, D.C." He even predicted that Barack Obama will on occasion feel the same way. "There'll be disappointments, I promise you," he said. "He'll be disappointed. Sometimes the biggest disappointments will come from your so-called friends." [|Bush, une dernière fois face à la presse, ne regrette (presque) rien] Article publié le 13/01/2009 Dernière mise à jour le 13/01/2009 à 07:23 TU   http://www.rfi.fr/actufr/articles/109/article_77262.asp Dans une semaine George Bush quittera la Maison Blanche. Le président américain a tenu la dernière conférence de presse de sa présidence, lundi. Le républicain qui a dirigé le pays durant huit ans a insisté sur les succès de sa présidence : selon lui, l'incarcération de présumés terroristes à Guantanamo et son action dans le conflit israélo-palestinien. Il a admis des «erreurs» parmi lesquelles le déploiement de la bannière «Mission accomplie» annonçant prématurément la fin des combats en Irak. Il a aussi estimé que l'Iran et la Corée du Nord restent «dangereux» en raison de leur programme nucléaire. L'occasion de dresser le bilan mais aussi de donner des conseils à son successeur sur ce qui l'attend. Il l’a averti que son plus grand défi serait d’éviter de nouvelles attaques terroristes sur le sol américain. Le président sortant prononcera une allocution d'adieu, jeudi, dernière apparition publique de George Bush avant l'investiture de Barack Obama le 20 janvier.

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Avec notre correspondant à Washington, Jean-Louis Pourtet

Avant de faire ses adieux à la nation, jeudi soir en prime time, George Bush a pris congé de sa loyale opposition, la presse. Petite fleur faite au partant : les questions ont été pour la plupart moins agressives qu’à l’ordinaire.

Détendu, un peu nostalgique, tout de même, philosophe à l’occasion, le président est dans l’ensemble assez satisfait de son bilan. Il affirme ne s’être jamais guère soucié des critiques et avoir toujours agit en fonction de ce qu’il jugeait nécessaire pour protéger son pays.

Indulgence

Pour George Bush le plus grave danger qui menace, en effet, Barack Obama, a l’égard de qui il a exprimé beaucoup de sympathie, c’est une nouvelle attaque contre les Etats-Unis.

George Bush a tout de même admis avoir commis quelques erreurs : la bannière «Mission accomplie», un langage parfois inutilement bravache ou provocateur et aussi ce qu’il qualifie de déception, Abou Ghraïb et les armes de destruction massive introuvables en Irak.

En revanche, il défend sa gestion de Katrina : «On aurait pu mieux faire, certes, mais on a tout de même secouru par hélicoptère 30 000 sinistrés réfugiés sur leur toit ».

George Bush quitte la Maison Blanche apparemment serein, confiant qu’avec le temps les historiens le jugeront avec plus d’indulgence que ses contemporains.