Bush continued his Legacy Tour with a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, which he thanked “for generating good thought.”
PHILOSOPHYIN’ IS HARD WORK: “People in the public arena need to have support for philosophy -- and that’s what you provide, so I appreciate all your hard work.”
IN OTHER WORDS: “I have found that in order to have good decision-making and a White House that functions well, that the President needs to articulate a set of principles from which he will not defer. In other words, a set of principles that are inviolate -- such as the universality of freedom. That’s the heart of my foreign policy.”
IN OTHER WORDS: “I believe in the collective wisdom of the American people. In other words, I believe we ought to trust individuals to be making decisions for their families.”
YEAH, IT’S FUNNY HOW A COMPLETE ECONOMIC MELTDOWN WILL MAKE YOUR ECONOMIC POLICIES LOOK BAD: “the benefits of the tax cuts have been obscured by the recent economic crisis”.
He explained the importance of markets: “I can remember going to China when my dad was the envoy there and everybody had the same clothes on -- it was like, there was no demand”.
LOOKING OVER THE HORIZON: “the job of the President is looking over the horizon. And that’s -- sometimes that gets you in conflict with the legislative branch. The legislative branch tends to have a shorter-term horizon than the executive branch.” For example, Bush keeps looking to the time fifty years from now when he’s pretty sure he’ll be remembered as the greatest president ever.
OF COURSE IN SOME CASES THE DISPARITY IS GREATER THAN OTHERS: “And that really makes our country great -- Presidents will come and go with their strengths and weaknesses, but the ship of state sails on because of the institution being greater than the person.”
WHAT GEORGE DIDN’T WANT TO BE: “So I analyzed that and decided I didn’t want to be the president during a depression greater than the Great Depression, or the beginning of a depression greater than the Great Depression.” He was hoping if it doesn’t start until January 21st, he won’t get the blame. Good luck with that.
THE VOICES IN HIS HEAD GET JEALOUS: “People say, well, do you ever hear any other voices other than, like, a few people? Of course I do.”
He said we don’t need a new stimulus package, because the drop in gasoline prices is just like a stimulus package.
WHAT THE COUNTRY NEEDS TO OVERCOME: “The country needs to overcome its fear about nuclear power if we want to have ample electricity so we can grow”.
WHAT HE
TONE DEAF: “I came with the idea of changing the tone in Washington, and frankly didn’t do a very good job of it.”
And a special bonus: more pictures of George Bush from this week. You’re welcome.
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