In case Monday's news conference and the barrage of goodbye interviews President Bush has been giving lately aren't enough, he's going to make an official farewell address Thursday night.

The prime time speech is expected to be about 10 to 15 minutes long, in front of a live audience in the White House East Room. He will speak to what the White House calls "courageous people" he's met during his eight years in office.

No other details were available Monday. 

The address, said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, "would be the last scheduled public event before the president-elect arrives at the North Portico on Inauguration Day" January 20.

She said the primetime farewell address is a ritual dating back to George Washington, though the live audience element would be new, Perino said, adding "this is not going to be a swan song."

And, the White House said in an e-mail, “He will reflect on his time in office and the ways our country has changed these past eight years.  He will also uphold the tradition of presidents using farewell addresses to look forward – by sharing his thoughts on greatest challenges facing the country, and on what it will take to meet them.”