Video: President Bush defends his record

President Bush held his final official news conference Monday morning at the White House.

He was often light-hearted and a bit nostalgic.

He freely talked about the war, the economy, his accomplishments and even his mistakes.

For the most part the president shrugged off his critics and extended an olive branch to the press.

At his final news conference President Bush defended himself and his record.

“Look, I inherited a recession, I’m ending on a recession. In the meantime, there were fifty-two months of uninterrupted job growth,“ said Mr. Bush.

He made few apologies but admitted mistakes.

“Clearly putting a ‘mission accomplished’ on an aircraft carrier was a mistake,“ the President said.

But he refused to put his response to hurricane Katrina in that category.

“Don’t tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed. Could things have been done better? Absolutely.“

With just days remaining in office, the president said President-Elect Obama has the lead on asking Congress for the remaining three hundred and fifty billion dollars of the bailout fund.

“Well, he hasn’t asked to make the request yet and I don’t intend to make the request unless he specifically asks me to make it,“ said Mr. Bush.

And moments after the news conference, president-elect Obama did just that.

Mostly, President Bush talked about his time in office.

Some call it the loneliest job in the world, but not President Bush.

As for president-elect Obama,

The president said, “I wish him all the best and um, he, people say that’s just a throw-away line. No, it’s not a throw-away line.“

The president says he’s looking forward to having a front-row seat for history when president-elect Obama is sworn in one week from Tuesday.