On 20 January, Mr Bush completes his eight years as president and leaves office with one of the lowest approval ratings ever measured. Nevertheless, Mr Bush himself does not see his time in office as a failure.

"I have often said that history will look back and determine that which could have been done better or... mistakes I made. Clearly putting "Mission Accomplished" on an aircraft carrier was a mistake. It sent the wrong message. We were trying to say something differently but nevertheless it conveyed a different message. Obviously some of my rhetoric has been a mistake... Anyway, I think historians will look back and they'll be able to have a better look at the mistakes after time has passed."

The words of George W. Bush speaking, at his last scheduled press conference, about the mistakes he made as America's 43rd president.

Most popular president
At one time, George W. Bush was America's most popular president. After the Sept. 11th attacks on the U.S., Mr Bush's approval rating skyrocketed into the 90% range. But a litany of public missteps and bad decisions have perhaps irreparably damaged his image as commander-in-chief.

After the 9-11 attacks, the Bush administration successfully rallied the country and the world behind the incursion into Afghanistan. More than seven years on though, the situation in that country seems more precarious than ever, with a resurgent Taliban and continued threats from Al Qaeda. Many critics lament the fact that the administration did not complete the job in Afghanistan and claim that the president's haste, in going to war in Iraq, is the main reason that Afghanistan remains a hotbed of terrorist activity.

Premier failure
One such critic is American Studies Professor Ruth Oldenziel from the University of Amsterdam. According to Professor Oldenziel, the decision to rush into war in Iraq is undoubtedly the biggest mistake Mr. Bush made. She says,

"Iraq has resulted in a whole host of issues. Al Qaeda is stronger than it was before. There is more resistance. There is destabilisation in the region. So I think that the Iraq War is the premier failure of the Bush administration."

Time has shown that the reasons given for invading of Iraq were wrong. Indeed, the much-vaunted weapons of mass destruction were never found. But for Professor Oldenziel, the real mistake in invading Iraq, is that the Bush administration became solely focused on that effort, to the detriment of many other important world issues. She points out that in the past eight years, China has greatly increased its influence in Africa and the Pacific, South America has seen a marked resurgence of Marxist sentiment, and the Middle East peace process has limped along without significant progress.

When pressed to come up with an example where President Bush has done good for the world, Professor Oldenziel acknowledges that the Bush administration has significantly advanced the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. But despite this, she believes that, on the whole, the Bush years have been bad for people around the world.

Dutch public opinion
The citizens of the Netherlands largely agree that Mr. Bush has been an unsuccessful president of the United States. When asked whether Bush was a good or bad president, a number of randomly chosen Dutch citizens all agree that he did not do a good job. 

Legacy of incompetence
It is not just foreign affairs that have tarnished President Bush's legacy. Domestically, Mr Bush also leaves the United States in shambles. In his first term in office, Mr Bush did achieve some successes including expanding prescription drug coverage for senior citizens and most importantly, appointing two young conservative justices to the Supreme Court.

But according to American political scientist, Professor Charles Franklin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bush's second term in office, which included Hurricane Katrina, and the on-set of the current economic recession, will likely dominate perceptions of his administration. When asked to explain the Bush legacy, Professor Franklin says,

"It is a legacy of some expansions of federal programs that almost entirely come from the first term and a legacy of incompetence and failure to produce or to achieve his goals in the second term."

Tragic figure
Professor Franklin points out the perhaps strange fact that part of the Bush legacy will be determined by how effective President Obama is in steering the U.S. out of the current economic downturn. And though it is not fully clear what George W. Bush's legacy will be as president, Prof. Oldenziel is convinced that the Bush family legacy ultimately harmed the world.

"George Bush is a tragic figure. It's a man who has been haunted by all kinds of family legacies and it's so very unfortunate that these have had enormous costs around the world and I think that is the tragedy that we have been part of."