PRESIDENT Bush has spent much of his last two months in office subjecting himself to interviews, finishing with a press conference and speech this week. He has pleaded that history regard his presidency as a success, but that is asking too much. Bush explains that he has acted from his conscience and his heart. However, his reliance on ideologues resulted in what he calls “;disappointments”; and “;setbacks,”; but which amounted to a failed presidency.

In actions directly affecting Hawaii, Bush designated 335,000 square miles of Pacific waters, including the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, as marine monuments - a glaring exception to a poor environmental record. He also stood opposed to Hawaiian sovereignty, contributing to the failure of Sen. Daniel Akaka's bill to receive congressional approval; President-elect Barack Obama supports the bill.

When he first ran for president in 2000, Bush called for an end to “;nation building”; and insisted on an “;exit strategy”; for any foreign involvement. Clearly, he violated those promises, invading Iraq on the basis of flawed intelligence and insisting that a secure democracy be constructed in Iraq prior to any withdrawal of U.S. troops.

After the 9/11 attack, Bush relied on then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld's deputy Paul Wolfowitz and Vice President Dick Cheney for expert advice. He concluded wrongly that dictator Saddam Hussein's Iraq had been connected with 9/11, failing to recognize that Islamic extremist Osama bin Laden despised Hussein's secular government.

Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq primarily on the basis of flawed intelligence that Saddam was concealing weapons of mass destruction, although United Nations inspector Hans Blix had been unable to locate any. Asked at this week's press conference about any mistakes he had made, Bush said that Iraq's “;not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment,”; not a mistake.

Bush takes credit for the fact that “;America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil.”; The question is whether the same success could have been achieved without infringing on Americans' privacy rights and using torture in interrogating alleged terrorists.

Accomplishments of the Bush administration are led by his efforts to fight AIDS in Africa and elsewhere in the world and creating the No Child Left Behind education bill, which remains a controversial topic. Peculiarly, Bush praised himself for proposing privatization of Social Security and immigration reform, even though both proposals failed in Congress.

He denied being responsible for the current economic crisis and does not feel burdened by such accusations. “;Oh, the burdens, you know,”; he jested at the news conference. “;Why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch? It's just - it's pathetic, isn't it, self-pity?”; Sadly, Bush's attempt to do what was right, however sincere, will not save his legacy.