President George W. Bush, nearing the end of his final term in office, says he most wants to be remembered as someone who came to Washington and didn’t lose his values.
Someone who didn’t sell his soul to the political process.
Somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace.
So he told his sister, Dorothy Bush Koch, in an interview for StoryCorps, the national oral history initiative. An excerpt of the interview aired on National Public Radio on Thanksgiving Day and the White House released excerpts on Friday. The entire interview will be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
“I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process,” Bush said in the interview. “I came to Washington with a set of values, and I’m leaving with the same set of values. And I darn sure wasn’t going to sacrifice those values.”
“I’d like to be a president (known) as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace; that focused on individuals rather than process; that rallied people to serve their neighbor,” the president added.
He mentions his HIV/AIDS and malaria initiatives in Africa, and the Medicare prescription drug benefit as two programs he is proud of.
Asked about his “No Child Left Behind” education law, Bush called it one of the “significant achievements of my administration.”
“We said loud and clear to educators, parents, and children that we expect the best for every child, that we believe every child can learn, and that in return for federal money we expect there to be an accountability system in place to determine whether every child is learning to read, write and add and subtract,” Bush said.
Bush hands over power to President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20, 2009.
As he heads into the final weeks of his presidency, Bush’s job approval ratings remain low. Only about 26 percent approve of his performance, while some 70 percent disapprove.
Bush’s decision to take the United States to war in Iraq is widely unpopular. A Quinnipiac University poll in early November found that 58 percent disagreed with decision.
For more Reuters political news, click here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Ho New (Bush talks by phone to troops in remote locations on Thanksgiving); Reuters/Jason Reed (Bush pardons national Thanksgiving turkey, Pumpkin)
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Bush sacrificed the American public in order to protect his own “values”. He has done everything possible to undermine our country and has done so with a smile and a glib “stay the course” on his lips. He has left the country in an absolutely preventable recession, with unemployment rates higher than they’ve been in 15 years, simply because he could and because he didn’t care. He spent 8 years using America as a disposable playtoy and has never once thought of taking responsibility for his own actions and attitudes.
“I think W. will be remembered as a man who did what he thought was right, a man of action who refused to back down or see America’s greatness compromised. ” — Posted by Mark
What someone thinks is right is not always the right thing to do. Politics can NOT be governed by personal values, especially not in a country as large and diverse as ours is. The President must put what’s best for the people at the forefront of his office. What’s best for himself comes last.
We didn’t need other countries to compromise America, he was happily doing it from within. Did you ever stop to wonder why Americans in other countries constantly felt the need to apologize for Bush, or were you too busy swallowing his “everything is fine” idiocy to look past your front lawn?
- Posted by K von MReuters, why such a pathetic lack of journalistic integrity?
You leave out many conservative quotes of substance, while giving your lefty pals a free pass on outright distortions:
Google how many years there were between the next most recent Islamic fundamentalist terror attack on the US and 9/11. Get back to me on how this proves W improved our security apparatus.
-Scott
Ok: 1993 - World Trade Center bombed by Islamic fundamentalists, 6 killed, 1,000 injured : No response from Clinton Administration
1995 - Islamic fundamentalists bomb Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing many US Military personnel housed there: No response from Clinton Administration
1998 - US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed, 200+ killed: No response from Clinton Administration
2000 - USS Cole bombed by Islamic fundamentalists - 17 sailors killed, many more injured: No response from Clinton Administration.
At some point in there, he lobbed a sinlge missle at an aspirin factory, taking out the major threat that was the one janitor killed there, most admit in order to take attention away from his misuse of the oval office and an intern.
So Scott, thats four in seven years if you don’t count the embassies separately, leaving you with an average of one major terrorist attack on the US every 1.75 years under a president who did everything in his might not only to not use the military correctly, but to demean and dismantle it at every opportunity.
On the other hand, within a month of the only major terrorist attack on the US under Bush, we responded militarily. There hasn’t been one since. So, 1 in 7 years compared to 4 in 7 years tells me he’s slowed the rate to one quarter of the rate of attacks under Clinton.
Let me know if you need any more help with math.
- Posted by MattPresident Bush is a great man and will be remembered as one in spite of the main stream media’s own candidate - bambi (who will fall on his face withing the 1st year).
2008 - the year the media DIED
- Posted by MaryIf a CEO ran a corporation like GW Bush ran the country, would the stockholders keep him for 8 years?
The current administration has demonstrated a complete disregard for the legal system, US Constitution, established international agreements and treaties, without any meaningful supervision by the House or Senate.
The Administration has engaged in personal slander, propaganda campaigns, double-speak and unmitigated fraud for anyone in disagreement with their warped agenda.
a. The House and Senate negated their assigned duties as representatives of the electorate when they handed the Administrative Branch a carte blanch ticket to start wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
b. The House and Senate have stood idly by while the administration carried out illegal wiretaps, refused to provide testimony required to ascertain the extent of the abuses and then passed laws to protect the culpable from due process/prosecution.
c. To allow the President and Vice-president to usurp the power designated to them by the electorate, the House and the Senate can only be recognized as complacent supporters of Totalitarianism and Fascism.
d. I urge Congress to restore court oversight of the government spying program and hold accountable the corporations that knowingly broke the law. I urge full judicial oversight of the responsible parties, removal from elected office or corporate position and, if so adjudicated, incarceration.
e. The non-sanctioned, preemptive wars against the sovereign nations of Afghanistan and Iraq were undertaken in violation of laws governing international aggression. The pretext for starting the wars was done with known deception of elected officials and the people. No matter how big your flag is, it is not big enough to wrap around the bodies of innocent men, women and children killed in battle.
f. I urge the immediate impeachment and trail for war crimes and misdemeanors of the President, Vice-president, Secretary of State, former Secretary of Defense per the petitions that were submitted to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees by popular petitions. This has remained in committee too long already.
- Posted by R. L. RathmannBush will be remembered as a liar and and stupid. The only reason he was not impeached is that Cheny is worse. That twosome has left this contry in shambles and we will be a long time in shamables. Shame on them for the the rest of their lives.
- Posted by lady wingnut
Bush is stupid? Please explain to me what a shamable is.
- Posted by MattI think W. will be remembered as a man who did what he thought was right, a man of action who refused to back down or see America’s greatness compromised. History will record him as the first president to stand and fight the evil of Islamic terrorism even though it cost him dearly politically.
Thank you for your courageous leadership, President Bush.
- Posted by MarkHow should W be remembered? The worst American President ever! He wasn’t even a real president he had whined and stole it away from Gore and Kerry (voter fraud and civil rights violations). I will remember him as the eunuch that sat as our towers burns and New Orleans flooded. People did not have to die in their attics waiting weeks and up to a year in one case before help arrived. How many innocent Iraqis died somewhere between 400 to 900 thousand so he could again steal a pearl handled revolver from a former US ally who fought against the fundamentalist Mujahedeen that his daddy created and armed in the 80s. I will remember a tyrannt, a miscreant, a nightmare who divided the world. He should be remembered as a criminal who was tried in the world court at the hague and found guilty and placed in jail for the rest of his days. Crimes against humanity, genocide in Iraq, Incompetence in Katrina Rescue that lead to even more deaths. Couldnt this guy do anything correct or noble? Go to Hell W!
- Posted by James Gaier[...] would you remember this guy? Front Row Washington
- Posted by How would you remember this guy? - mcarterbrown.com“George W Bush will remembered as the President who so politicized every department of the Federal government, it nearly brought the Nation to collapse — Just think, the Justice Department, FEMA, Labor, SEC, the failure to separate church and state.”
George Bush will be remembered as the President who sent liberals in frothy rage and caused them to lie and demean and smear and make up absurd and insane nonsense that didnt have an ounce of truth in them.
- Posted by The Travis MonitorJust think - Bush was less political than Clinton admin (who fired *every* DoJ attorney in 1993), DoJ is standing, church and state as separate as ever and athiests more outspoken than ever, FEMA helped in dozens of storms, including Ike this year.
Oh yeah, and Bush won the war in Iraq. we can thank him for finishing the job there so obama doesnt have to.