From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

Brooke Gladstone is out this week.

I'm Bob Garfield.

We have been through a lot together.

As I looked at the room, I see Jake, Mike, Herman, and Compton.

It just seemed like yesterday that I was on the campaign trail

and you were analyzing my speeches and my policies.

The Washington Post called President Bush's final press conference,

Wistful.

The Los Angeles Times called it Wistful.

The Associated Press called it Wistful. The Associated Press called it wistful.

Could they have meant willful?

My friends say, what is it like to deal with the press cars?

These are just people that are trying to do the best they possibly can.

And so here at the last press conference, I'm interested in answering some of your questions.

But mostly I'm interested in saying thank you for the job.

Oh, really?

Thank you.

I believed him when he said you, but I'm pretty sure thank isn't the verb of one syllable he had in mind.

Because for the past eight years, this White House

has mainly given the Fourth Estate and the First Amendment the finger. The Bush administration

ridiculed the press, ignored the press, stonewalled the press, bullied the press, maneuvered around

...