Not Many Of Us Could Have Done Better Than Bush

CLEVELAND - With the weight of the world on his shoulders, George W. Bush had to make constant high-profile decisions, which most folks hated.

How many of us could have actually done better?

Bush, our often criticized 43rd U.S. president ends his eight-year run as Commander-in-Chief next week. He and his wife appeared on CNN's Larry King Live last night and the man actually showed a side of himself that one might be able to sympathize with.

I said might.

President Bush reflected back on the three most watershed moments of his presidency: the September 11, 2001 attacks, the war on terror and Hurricane Katrina. He was occasionally defiant, often defensive and always compelling when answering King's often probing questions. Regarding the 9/11 attacks, he said the moment changed him and made him realize that his most important responsibility was protecting the country from [another] attack.

First Lady Laura defended her husband and admitted to being "sort of" angry at President-elect Barack Obama's heavy criticism of the Bush Administration during his 2008 campaign. Bush simply said, "what else is new?" in response to the pervasive name calling of anyone called on to make huge decisions. He also claimed to not care about his spiraling popularity in polls and maintained that the only poll that matters is the one on Election Day.

Bush also feels that going into Iraq was the right choice and that the national perception that he failed to respond in a timely fashion to the Katrina disaster is inaccurate. 

Said Bush:

"The truth of the matter is the response was pretty darn quick, if you think about the fact that the Coast Guard and a lot of brave kids were pulling 30,000 people off of roofs as soon as the storm passed, as soon as they found people on those roofs." He mentioned that being called a racist because of his handling of Katrina was a "low point."

Bush says that he looks forward to the upcoming inauguration of Obama and calls it a "historic moment for our country."

All in all, I found Bush to be quite human and actually thoughtful in contrast to the buffoonish caricature that we've been fed by the media. Don't get me wrong though, I still feel that the guy is a joke and should be held responsible for the mess he's leaving for Obama to deal with.

I just now realize that most of us couldn't have done much better.