As the advance text indicated, the president's speech tonight was truly pathetic, an uninspired attempt redeem his record with old cliches. And that's how Bush will some day make us stop hating him.

By being pitiable and, at last, harmless, the president can hope for a soft exit into a cushy retirement.

In the clip above, the outgoing president appears to maybe choke up when talking about how he will Never Forget 9/11; explains that America will get over the disaster he's leaving, because it is a young and resilient nation; and then he says being president has been "the privilege of a lifetime." Uh, surprising, buddy.

Also, Bush winked at someone from his lectern, for some reason, probably over a terrible conspiracy we will find out about mere weeks from now. Check it out at the end of the clip.