U.S. President George W. Bush gave his final State of the Union address Monday night where, as expected, he focused on the highlights of his presidency, a presidency which was largely preoccupied in conducting two wars – in Iraq and Afghanistan – and the wider conflict transcending national borders, which the American president calls, "the war on terror."

It is, of course, far too early to judge the results of the Bush 43 presidency, but odds are that W's administration will go down in history as one of the worst. Bush will leave the White House in 356 days from this Tuesday, and he will leave the country – and the world – in a far sorrier state. In the last seven years America's prestige around the world has suffered as much as the sub-prime mortgage industry at home.

At home, the economy is taking a hit too, with jittery markets amid fears of a recession. At the time of his first State of the Union the price of gas at the pump was 99¢ a gallon. Today that price has more than tripled, with consumers dishing out over $3 for that same gallon. It is true that Americans still pay far less for gas than Europeans, but distances in the United States are far greater than in Europe, and public transportation is far inferior to Europe's, forcing Americans to spend more time in their cars.

On his recent visit to the Middle East Bush asked the Saudis to increase oil production, hoping it would bring down the price per barrel. The reply from the Saudis was a polite rebuttal, an indication that the kingdom had no interest in listening to the president. Already a lame duck president at home, Bush was finding out that he was rapidly losing clout in the rest of the world.

His efforts to rally the Arab Gulf states in support of an anti-Iranian initiative got nowhere. Instead of finding sympathetic ears, the U.S. president heard the same mantra from Kuwait to the United Arab Emirates: "We do not want another war in our region."

Perhaps realizing that the two wars he started – Afghanistan and Iraq – would outlast his days in the Oval Office – Bush turned to the issue of the Middle East, hoping to end his presidency on a somewhat more positive note by promising he would see the creation of a Palestinian state by the time he was out of office.

Yet the way things are developing in the region makes the odds of a settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute within the next 12 months about as realistic as Bush's initial declaration of victory in Iraq.

For peace to become a reality in the Middle East it is essential to have strong leaders who are not afraid of being audacious enough to try a new and courageous approach. Regrettably, Israel has one of the weakest prime ministers in its history; and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority is equally weak. Add to the mix an Islamist movement, which seems to be gaining more power despite attempts to marginalize it. Bush, however, remains optimistic, seeing a "new cause of hope in the Holy Land." We wonder if the people of Gaza share that optimism.