George W. Bush gave his own self-assessment last night, in a speech that was, at times, quite poignant. The contrast between last night’s somber and serious presentation and his semi-goofy press conference on Monday highlighted one of the constants of Bush’s presidency: The chasm between Bush Unplugged and the eloquent statesman of the set pieces. Professional speechwriters explain some of this difference, but not all of it: Michael Gerson, the best of Bush’s wordsmiths, always took pains to say that the signature rhetorical flourish of this president—“freedom is not America’s gift to the world, it is the almighty God’s gift to every man and woman in this world”—is Bush’s own.

So what did he tell us last night? The text of Bush’s farewell address is here, and the video is here. The president said he would like to be remembered as a leader willing to make tough decisions. Fair enough—it’s certainly an apt description. Bush also said he kept us safe from follow-up terrorist attacks after 9/11. That is probably true, although we have no way of knowing for sure. He also reminded us with his words what his appearance already revealed—that the presidency is a difficult, and wearing, job under the best of circumstances. And these were hardly normal times.

“As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11,” Bush said last night. “But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.”

George W. Bush ran for national office in 2000 vowing to do three things: Cut taxes; get the Republican Party in the ballgame on federal education policy; and restore civility to our national discourse. The third goal was probably doomed before he took office, thanks to the Florida recount, as many Democrats simply never accepted him as a legitimate president. Nonetheless, Bush met the opposition party more than halfway on the civility front, and enjoyed some early success with his policy initiatives.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Bush’s popularity soared. His approval rating reached 90 percent in one Gallup Poll, and his numbers stayed high for most of the rest of his first term. He helped the Republican Party recapture the Senate, meaning he could continue to appoint conservative judges to the federal bench, and he began pursuing a muscular foreign policy. I personally believe Bush and his advisers misread his high job approval ratings. Those sky-high poll numbers were partly because of his policies and partly because of his response to 9/11. Mostly they reflected the fact that Americans’ were rallying around themselves, their flag, their country, their troops, and yes, their commander-in-chief. It did not necessarily mean Americans wanted to restructure Social Security, and it certainly didn’t mean they wanted U.S. combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for the next six years... and counting.

In 2000, Bush had promised a “humble” foreign policy. All that was gone in the wake of 9/11. Inside the White House, the prevailing view was that timidity in various degrees by the four previous presidents had contributed to the state of affairs culminating in the destruction of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon, and the thwarted attack on the U.S. Capitol or the White House: Jimmy Carter had been virtually paralyzed when Iranian militants took the American embassy in Tehran, and made hostages of the Americans who worked there. Ronald Reagan had withdrawn the U.S. Marines from Lebanon in the wake of a deadly suicide bomb attack on the Marine barracks. George H.W. Bush had left Saddam Hussein in power after the Persian Gulf War. Bill Clinton had responded to the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa with a pointless launch of a few cruise missiles—and had done nothing at all when Osama bin Laden followed up the embassy bombings with an attack that nearly sank a U.S. Navy ship of war, the USS Cole. In the wake of 9/11, this is how the president and his advisers looked on recent events. George W. Bush was intent on changing the field of play permanently.

The determination to fix things is a human instinct: Bush wanted to save American lives from future terrorist attacks, export democracy, end human rights abuses in Iraq, make the world safe for Israel, and help the flower of freedom take root in the Arab world. Admirable goals, every one. Remaking the world is no easy task, however, and perhaps not attainable. Clearly, after 9/11, America did not want or need a Caspar Milquetoast in the Oval Office. But, again, let’s recall the word Bush used when he was running for president: Humility doesn’t mean being a doormat. It means having an appreciation for what is feasible. Politics has been called “the art of the possible,” and when Bush ran in 2000, he positioned himself as the heir to the most skillful Republican politician in memory, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Reagan ran for office as a conservative, and after he was elected, he alarmed liberals by ignoring the tired paradigm of the times and calling the Soviet Union for what it was, an “evil empire.” Yet Reagan was also an eminently practical president, who didn’t overreach, who was very careful about where he committed U.S. troops, and who accomplished most of what he set out to do. As Reagan’s Disciple, George W. Bush fell short. It’s no disgrace, but at this time in our history, most Americans are hoping that the 44^th president will be able to strike a better balance between what our nation wants and what it is capable of accomplishing.

I’ve compared Barack Obama to Reagan on this blog; so has my father in other writings. Perhaps we’re being parochial. I will say this, however: As Bush heads back to Texas, I certainly wish him and his family well. He came, he saw, he tried to conquer. It’s not as easy as it looks.