In the first of a series of exit interviews scheduled over the coming weeks, outgoing President George Bush sat down with ABC's Charlie Gibson to take a stroll down memory lane and reflect on his eight years of ruining the country. And some other countries.
As evidenced by the video, Bush was his usual charming self, having a good old laugh about the first lady yelling at him for being a boorish rube who treats the White House furniture like it came from Rent-a-Center. Heh heh. Smirk. Heh heh. But, as always, it's when Bush talks about the hard work of presidenting that he really shines.
On holding fast to his principles and making tough decisionings: "The thing that's important for me is to get home and look in that mirror and say, 'I did not compromise my principles.' And I didn't. I made tough calls. And some presidencies have got a lot of tough decisions to make." That's right. Some presidencies do have tough decisions to make. And some presidencies don't, like the presidency of Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853, often known as the "striped or polka dot pantaloons presidency".
On the Iraq war and the failure to find the WMDs that had been used as the rationale for war: "I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess. … That is a do-over that I can't do." Brilliant. No backsies or reversies, either – to the enduring misfortune of the Iraqi people.
On shirking responsibility for the economic crisis:
You know, I'm the president during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realise a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in president, during I arrived in president. I'm sorry it's happening, of course. Obviously, I don't like the idea of people losing jobs or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other hand, the American people gotta know that we will safeguard the system. … And when people review the history of this administration, people will say that this administration tried hard to get a regulator. And there will be a lot of analysis of why that didn't happen. I suspect people will find a lot of it didn't happen for pure political reasons.
Not my fault – and anyone who tries to say otherwise is just a deranged partisan. And people try to say Bush isn't a true conservative!
On being the comforter-in-chief: "The president ends up carrying a lot of people's grief in his soul. … One of the things about the presidency is you deal with a lot of tragedy – whether it be hurricanes, or tornadoes, or fires or death – and you spend time being the comforter-in-chief." But don't cry for him, Argentina. And you, neither, America: "But the idea of being able to serve a nation you love is – has been joyful. In other words, my spirits have never been down. I have been sad, but the spirits are up." Hallelujah. I'm no expert on the sacred and divine, but surely that all the grief-carrying hasn't weighed down the spirits is a modern-day miracle.
On why John McCain lost: "I think it was a repudiation of Republicans. And I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me." Gee, ya think?
On his future plans: "I'm going to have a lot of time to think. My day is going to go from getting up early-early, and being at the Oval Office at 6:45am, and having a lot to do when you get there, to waking up at 6:45am, getting Momma the coffee – and kind of wandering around trying – 'What's next, boss?'" Thank Maude for brush-clearin'! And good news for you literate types: Bush is planning on writing a book, too.
That is, if he can find a publisher.
Perhaps he could generate some interest by breaking with presidential memoir tradition and penning a play instead: Exit the Lame Duck, Stage Right. Sounds good to me.