I suppose you want to have your leader struck with an unfailing confidence but there are bits of yesterday's final press conference by outgoing President Bush that do make you wonder about the man:

Mr. Bush said he was not certain why he had become so divisive. “I don’t know why they get angry,” he replied to a question about those who disagreed with his policies so vehemently that it became personal. “I don’t know why they get hostile.” He added that he had learned not to pay attention. “I don’t see how I can get back home in Texas and look in the mirror and be proud of what I see, if I allowed the loud voices, the loud critics to prevent me from doing what I thought was necessary to protect this country,” Mr. Bush said.

That is a lot of "I don't know". Here is the full transcript, see if you can count how many there are. I don't know myself what to make of the man but in the end he is done and others will see if they can pick up both the threads and the pieces. Defenders will always say there has not been a second attach on US soil as a response to any criticism of the Bush administration but is that the answer to any fault? It is pretty clear now that the enemy lacked the capacity to make a repeat of the events of 9/11 or had a different focus. In a way, the war in Iraq could be seen to have caused that by creating an off-shore setting, either a quagmire or a playing field depending on your point of view. Once Iraq is settled and the US removes its troops (unless North Korea is mirrored) does this shift the focus again? Like the exiting President says, I don't know.

There are unfortunate sentences that will be repeated like "not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment." He didn't really mean that. I think this was an interesting passage that did show what he was about:

I believe this -- the phrase "burdens of the office" is overstated. You know, it's kind of like, why me? Oh, the burdens, you know. Why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch? It's just -- it's pathetic, isn't it, self-pity. And I don't believe that President-Elect Obama will be full of self-pity. He will find -- you know, your -- the people that don't like you, the critics, they're pretty predictable. Sometimes the biggest disappointments will come from your so-called friends.

He has been both a character and a man with character even if it isn't always your brand of character. I've been wondering about the role his post 9/11 statement about going out and spending had on creating the personal credit crisis. People did spend. And spend and spend and spend with not enough regard for their ability to pay for the spending. They seem connected to me but I don't know if Mr Bush would connect those dots. I just don't know.