I, also, thought it was an insightful press conference. If you didn't listen to what he was saying with an open mind and as you said, draw the distinction between failures and disappointments you could not appreciate the points he was trying to make. Did he make mistakes, yes. Does he readily admit to some of them, no. Are there some things he does not see as mistakes but others do, yes. In other words your perceived opinion of Bush stems from your friends, your observations and what you read regarding his actions as POTUS. I don't mean to be an apologist for Bush but in many cases he takes a bum rap for many of his policies and decisions. That being said, so does every President. We all have different points of view regarding the operations of our government. May we always be allowed that this be so.I don't think you're interpreting that correctly. He drew a distinction between failures and disappointments. Disappointments in his view were cases where the system he relied on broke down. For example he considered Abu Garib a disappointment, e.g. the military failed to uphold moral values in handling of prisoners. He viewed these cases as situations where the system failed, events that were out of his control.
I liked what he had to say about the vacations and getting the security briefings. People don't realize what a stressful job Presidents have. Imagine waking up every morning for 8 years and reading over a document detailing a set of 'what ifs' and 'maybes' as to what could go wrong. I wouldn't want that job. No wonder they age so much during office.
All in all a very open, lengthy, and revealing press conference. I'm looking forward to his first book.

