43 Plus 41 Does Not Equal 42
By Peter Baker
President Bush today laughed off his predecessor's suggestion that former presidents would need to travel the world after he leaves office to repair the damage he has done while in the White House. And while he resisted again becoming the "oh-piner-in-chief" in the presidential campaign, as he put it, he did offer a few thoughts about what the next president should be like and brushed off an attack from one of his party's frontrunning candidates.
At an end-of-the-year news conference, Bush was asked about former president Bill Clinton's comment that if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the White House next year, she could send her husband and former president George H.W. Bush abroad to show that "America is open for business and cooperation again." The elder Bush, the nation's 41st president, has already shot down that idea, noting that his son has done a fine job and he sees no need for such a trip.
"Well, 41 didn't think it's necessary," the younger Bush said today. "It sounds like it's going to be a one-man trip."
Asked about former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's assertion that the president operates from an "arrogant bunker mentality" when it comes to dealing with the world, Bush smiled and declined to take the bait. "I suspect my name may come up a lot and what the American people need to do is to sort through the rhetoric and the reality."
But he did bite on a question about what is important to him in evaluating a future president. "What's important to me will be this -- the principles by which people will make decisions," he said. "People develop principles all different kinds of ways. But you can't be the president unless you have a firm set of principles to guide you as you sort through all the problems the world faces." The second question he would ask, he added, would be: "Who are you going to surround yourself [with], and what process will you have in place to ensure that you get the unvarnished opinion of advisers? Because whoever sits in that Oval Office is going to find this is a complex world."
Posted at 5:54 PM ET on Dec 20, 2007
Share This: 
Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Posted by: miller51550 | December 21, 2007 10:46 AM
schencks84 wrote:
1000110011100101010000011001111010100110101
...whichever makes more sense to you.
Try again. Not divisible by 8.
Posted by: rhayward | December 21, 2007 10:12 AM
"And while he resisted again becoming the "oh-piner-in-chief" in the presidential campaign, as he put it, he did offer a few thoughts about what the next president should be like"
Don't you feel like and idiot typing this stuff?
Posted by: zukermand | December 21, 2007 9:57 AM
Mr Bush is a bottomless source of embarrassment and shame for a great nation. It's heartbreaking.
Posted by: zukermand | December 21, 2007 9:55 AM
D-shoup:
I don't see how Huckabee is any different than Bush.
-or-
1000110011100101010000011001111010100110101
...whichever makes more sense to you.
Posted by: schencks84 | December 21, 2007 8:55 AM
Putanesque. Bill has seized control. If he is returned to the white house will he once again have interns on his staff?
Posted by: rahaha | December 20, 2007 8:10 PM
Uh, Shoup-we heard you the First time!
LOL! Bushie is laying out the fact I have been trying to get out for MONTHS now!
It is a very BIG Job!
TEAM UP!
NOTHING, short of a Team effort, will get things in order!
Posted by: rat-the | December 20, 2007 7:45 PM
For the first time I have moved away from the conservative "Dark Side" and now support Mike Huckabee for President. Just too many power hungry conservative Talk Show Hosts supporting the Wall Street Power Brokers and their candidates. Mike Huckabee has single handedly moved the election system into the light for all true conservatives and Americans by removing the "For Sale" sign from Washington DC.
Posted by: d_shoup | December 20, 2007 7:22 PM
For the first time I have moved away from the conservative "Dark Side" and now support Mike Huckabee for President. Just too many power hungry conservative Talk Show Hosts supporting the Wall Street Power Brokers and their candidates. Mike Huckabee has single handedly moved the election system into the light for all true conservatives and Americans by removing the "For Sale" sign from Washington DC.
Posted by: d_shoup | December 20, 2007 7:22 PM
For the first time I have moved away from the conservative "Dark Side" and now support Mike Huckabee for President. Just too many power hungry conservative Talk Show Hosts supporting the Wall Street Power Brokers and their candidates. Mike Huckabee has single handedly moved the election system into the light for all true conservatives and Americans by removing the "For Sale" sign from Washington DC.
Posted by: d_shoup | December 20, 2007 7:22 PM
For the first time I have moved away from the conservative "Dark Side" and now support Mike Huckabee for President. Just too many power hungry conservative Talk Show Hosts supporting the Wall Street Power Brokers and their candidates. Mike Huckabee has single handedly moved the election system into the light for all true conservatives and Americans by removing the "For Sale" sign from Washington DC.
Posted by: d_shoup | December 20, 2007 7:22 PM
For the first time I have moved away from the conservative "Dark Side" and now support Mike Huckabee for President. Just too many power hungry conservative Talk Show Hosts supporting the Wall Street Power Brokers and their candidates. Mike Huckabee has single handedly moved the election system into the light for all true conservatives and Americans by removing the "For Sale" sign from Washington DC.
Posted by: d_shoup | December 20, 2007 7:22 PM
For the first time I have moved away from the conservative "Dark Side" and now support Mike Huckabee for President. Just too many power hungry conservative Talk Show Hosts supporting the Wall Street Power Brokers and their candidates. Mike Huckabee has single handedly moved the election system into the light for all true conservatives and Americans by removing the "For Sale" sign from Washington DC.
Posted by: d_shoup | December 20, 2007 7:22 PM
For the first time I have moved away from the conservative "Dark Side" and now support Mike Huckabee for President. Just too many power hungry conservative Talk Show Hosts supporting the Wall Street Power Brokers and their candidates. Mike Huckabee has single handedly moved the election system into the light for all true conservatives and Americans by removing the "For Sale" sign from Washington DC.
Posted by: d_shoup | December 20, 2007 7:22 PM
I wonder how Dubya came by the priciples of torture, reneging on treaties, suspension of habeas corpus, eavesdropping on ordinary citizens, and playing on people's fear.
And I wonder if he knew that this "is a pretty complex world" when he ran for office. By his comments, it sounds as though it's just dawning on him.
Posted by: uncbare | December 20, 2007 7:12 PM
george w bush belongs in gitmo , trying to get a appt with a judge
Posted by: newagent99 | December 20, 2007 6:48 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Note that God Bush continues to LAUGH at the American people.
How can this president talk to anyone about principles and making decisions.
As a supposedly World Leader he is an absolute failure. It will take more than someone traveling the world to try to re-connect to the other nations of the world.
While I doubt that there is ANY World Leader today other that God Bush's Crony friends that TRUSTS him or the United States.. unless the US is supplying more money to that foreign nation.
Money Talks... and Fear makes uneasy allies.
IMPEACH BUSH