Bush Holds Final News Conference

President George W. Bush holds a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House...

President George W. Bush holds a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House today in Washington, DC. Bush spent nearly an hour fielding questions during his last news conference as president of the United States before President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in on January 20.

(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Bush on Hurricane Katrina

On the domestic front, the president also assessed criticism about the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, becoming defensive when again challenged about whether the administration had acted appropriately.

"Could things have been done better? Absolutely," Bush said. "But when I hear people say the federal response was slow, then what are they going to say to those chopper drivers or the 30,000 that got pulled off the roofs?"

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The president who was noted for long vacations at his Crawford, Texas ranch said the job of being president followed him every where. Bush said he got national security briefings every day but Sunday, and it was impossible to escape the job.

"There's not a moment where you don't think about being president. Unless you're riding mountain bikes as hard as you possibly can, trying to forget for the moment," he said.

But now he is "getting off the stage," he said and didn't know what he will be doing after moving out of the White House next Tuesday.

"I'm a Type A personality…I just can't envision myself, you know, the big straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach, particularly since I quit drinking," Bush said.

ABC News' Gary Langer contributed to this report.