Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, looking back at eight years of decisions on war and peace, expressed few regrets and defended his administration’s actions in the fight against terrorism, the war in Iraq, and the response to a global financial meltdown.

“Presidents can try to avoid hard decisions, and therefore avoid controversy,” Bush said in his last news conference before handing the White House to President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20. “That’s just not my nature.

“I don’t see how I can get back home in Texas and look in the mirror and be proud of what I see if I allowed the loud voices, the loud critics, to prevent me from doing what I thought was necessary to protect this country.”

Bush will give a farewell speech to the county on Jan. 15, “sharing his thoughts on the greatest challenges facing the country, and on what it will take to meet them,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

The biggest threat facing Obama is the continuing risk of terrorist attacks, Bush told reporters today: “There’s still an enemy out there that would like to inflict damage on Americans.” Bush, a Republican, said he wishes the new Democratic president all the best. “The stakes are high. There is an enemy that still is out there.”

Iran and North Korea are still dangerous because of their nuclear ambitions, the Kyoto Protocol to greenhouse gases is “a flawed treaty,” and Hamas must halt rocket fire if there’s to be any cease-fire with Israel in the Gaza Strip, Bush said. Obama also is “going to have his hands full with the economy,” Bush said.

Oval Office Responsibilities

“He’ll walk in the Oval Office and there’ll be a moment when the responsibilities of the president land squarely on his shoulders,” Bush said.

Obama will take on the challenge of reviving an economy that lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent, and managing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“History will look back and determine that which could have been done better or, you know, mistakes I made,” Bush said, in his first solo press conference since July 15 and the 47th of his tenure. The president defended his decisions “because I think it’s a good, strong record.”

The president brushed aside questions about whether tactics in the war against terror had damaged the U.S.’s moral standing.

‘Never Felt Isolated’

“In terms of the decisions that I had made to protect the homeland, I wouldn’t worry about popularity,” Bush said. “All these debates will matter naught if there’s another attack on the homeland.”

Bush rejected the notion of the presidency as the world’s loneliest job. “No, not for me,” he said. “I have never felt isolated.”

“I believe the phrase ‘burdens of the office’ is overstated,” Bush said. “It’s just pathetic, isn’t it, self- pity?”

Appearing in May 2003 before a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished” after the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, Bush said. So was the timing of his push to privatize Social Security soon after the 2004 election.

Bush acknowledged “disappointments,” citing the mistreatment of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, and the discovery that Iraq didn’t have the weapons of mass destruction that provided a rationale for the Iraq war. “I don’t know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were -- things didn’t go according to plan, let’s put it that way,” Bush said.

No Limelight

Bush said he will avoid the limelight after Obama takes charge. “When I get out of here, I’m getting off the stage,” he said. “I believe there ought to be, you know, one person in the klieg lights at a time.”

Still, he said he may write a book at some point while he works on his presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “I’m a Type A personality,” Bush said. “I just can’t envision myself, you know, the big straw hat and Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach.”

Obama’s inauguration as the first black U.S. president is “going to be an amazing moment,” Bush said. “I consider myself fortunate to have a front-row seat on what is going to be an historic moment for the country.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 12, 2009 16:48 EST