Although he was nearly an invisible presence in the waning days of the battle between Barack Obama and John McCain, George W Bush has undoubtedly left his mark on Washington, and he’s destined to be remembered as one of the most controversial presidents in US history.

Ironically, Bush holds the records for the highest and lowest approval ratings ever recorded by a US president.

A month after the Al Qaida attacks of September 11, 2001, his “smoke-‘em-out” tough-guy rhetoric helped push his approval rating to a stunning 92%. But, twice this year — including during the recent economic meltdown — his approval rating has tanked to an abysmal 19%.

Bush took office in early 2001, after he lost the popular vote to Al Gore by more than 500,000 votes, but shaded his rival in the crucial Electoral College tally by five votes.

It took a high-profile extended recount in Florida (where Bush’s brother Jeb was then governor) and an unprecedented intervention by the US Supreme Court to finally secure the presidency for Bush.

Bush drew heavy international criticism for withdrawing US support of the Kyoto accords on climate change in March 2001. And, during his first few months in office, he froze or reversed several Clinton era initiatives pertaining to worker safety and environmental regulations.

9/11 gave him a purpose

Bush, who had very little national of foreign policy experience, seemed out-of-his-depth and seemingly destined to be a one-term Oval Office occupant.

Then 9/11 gave him a purpose. Afterwards he regularly defined himself as a “war president”.

One of Bush’s most controversial moves was to authorize the open-ended detention of alleged “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo Bay. By utilizing America’s last foothold in Cuba, his administration skirted US habeas corpus laws and, even more controversially, was able to use “deep interrogation” tactics against suspects that wouldn’t have been allowed within the US.

Bush also authorized the expansion of extraordinary rendition, whereby terrorist suspects were secretly transported to clandestine prisons where they were allegedly routinely tortured in an attempt to extract information vital to the “war on terror.”

In late August 2005, amid the spiralling financial and human life tolls of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush was hit hard by his administration’s lethargic and ineffectual response to Hurricane Katrina. Bush’s public standing never really recovered after the Katrina debacle.

Bush is now a lame duck president. Despite holding the most powerful executive office on the planet, he’s no longer considered a serious player by Congress. As such, he has very little chance getting any meaningful legislation passed between now and January 20, when he relinquishes the keys to the Oval Office for good.

But, although he’ll soon have to vacate 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he won’t disappear from US treasury calculations.

As with most ex-presidents who live on for many years after leaving office, as compensation for having logged eight years in the White House, Bush’s annual Oval Office-related pension alone for the rest of his life will be $186,000.