The Bush White House years may turn into the book wars, which one will you buy?

Former President George W. Bush is writing a book on the decisions he made while in office, working title “Decision Points,” scheduled for release next year.

Former first lady Laura Bush is writing a memoir about her life experiences, expected to be published next year.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney may provide some juicy tidbits in his memoir if it ends up criticizing (would that be book-stabbbing?) the president, it won’t be out until early 2011.

Here’s our guess on how the pages will turn.

George W. Bush’s book will be a straight-forward accounting of what went through his mind as the “Decider” in chief. Laura Bush’s book will not be as soft and fluffy as a stereotypical first lady memoir. And Cheney’s will offer the most surprises, only because he has been the determined silent type.

What’s your pick?

Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Coombs (people reading books on a British beach)

WASHINGTON - George W. Bush has kept a low profile since leaving the White House on Jan. 20 and moving back to Texas, but we’re starting to hear some bits and pieces of what he has been up to.

For one thing, we know that President Barack Obama phoned him on Friday to tell him most of the U.S. troops that Bush put into Iraq are going to come out over the next 18 months.

“President Bush appreciated the courtesy call from President Obama regarding the administration’s plans for Iraq,” said the former president’s spokesman, Rob Saliterman.

And then we hear Laura Bush gave an interview to ABC News and talked about George thumbing things into his BlackBerry and riding his bicycle around their new Dallas neighborhood.

You’ll recall that Bush gave up email to be president because he didn’t want every idle musing to end up as a presidential document that he would have to sort through once he got his library up and running. Or something like that.

Anyway, he has been in touch with his former staffers via email, the former first lady said.

“George is on the BlackBerry to them now all the time. But, you know, it’s a very, very different life, especially for the president, who had every problem in the world on his desk one day and then an empty desk the next day,” she told ABC News.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Pool (Documents from President Bush’s White House years unloaded in Texas)

Former President George W. Bush says he’s got a new domestic agenda — mowing the lawn and taking out the trash.

He says he’s looking forward to his wife Laura’s home cooking, sort of,  and plans on relaxing Wednesday on his first morning out of the White House – making Laura coffee, skimming the newspaper, calling friends, reading a book, going fishing, and taking a walk – all before 8 a.m.

“That’s what happens when you’re a Type A personality,” he said.

At a welcome back rally in Midland, Texas, just hours after Barack Obama’s inauguration as the new POTUS (President of the United States), Bush reflected on his time at the White House.

“We came face-to-face with kings, presidents, popes and a son-in-law,” he said, referring to his daughter getting married during his second term.

Bush said he had kept the same values that he left with from the Lone Star State.

“When I get home tonight and look in the mirror, I’m not going to regret what I see, except maybe some grey hair.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Saul Loeb/Pool (Bush talks with Obama before leaving for Texas)

CRAWFORD, Texas - President George W. Bush, in the sunset of his presidency, plans to welcome in the New Year with a sunrise stroll accompanied by wife, Laura, at their Texas ranch. 
 
“It’s something they’ve always enjoyed doing and look forward to doing tomorrow,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
 
Some New Year’s Eve revelers might struggle at the prospect of waking up at dawn after partying past midnight, but not Bush since he’s an early-to-bed kinda guy.
 
“I think he’s more likely to be an early riser for the first of the New Year rather than to see the old year out,” Johndroe said.
 
Bush will return to Texas for good after handing over the  White House keys to Barack Obama on Jan. 20. He plans to live in Dallas, but was also expected to spend time at the Crawford ranch on weekends and holidays.
 
In his final New Year’s Day presidential message, Bush said 2009 was an “exciting time for our country” as it prepares for a peaceful transfer of power.
 
“As my time in office comes to a close, I thank the American people for trusting me with the honor of serving our great country. It has been a tremendous privilege, and together we have accomplished a great deal,” Bush said.

“Earlier this year, I promised that I would sprint to the finish of my time as president,” he added. “We are working hard to keep that promise.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (President and Mrs. Bush arrive in Waco Dec. 26)

The video of an agile U.S. President George W. Bush ducking two shoes thrown at him during a news conference in Baghdad has been fodder for jokes on late-night television and a big hit on the Internet.

Even Bush laughed off the Dec. 14 incident. But his wife was not amused by an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush, narrowly missing the president.

“It was an assault,” Laura Bush said in a Fox news interview broadcast on Sunday. “And I think it should be treated that way.”

Iraqi TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi was tackled to the floor and arrested, and his lawyer said he was severely beaten in detention. He is to stand trial on Dec. 31 on charges of “assaulting a foreign head of state visiting Iraq,” a spokesman for Iraq’s High Judicial Council said.

But Zaidi has become a hero to Sunnis and Shi’ites alike, and clerics on both sides are demanding that he be freed.

Asked about demands for the reporter’s release, Laura Bush said that whatever happens with Zaidi is up to the Iraqis.

“But I know that if Saddam Hussein had been there, the man wouldn’t have been released. And he probably … you know, would have been executed,” she said. “As bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves.”

Many Iraqis blame Bush personally for the tens of thousands who have died in violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam.

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Larry Downing. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrive in San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 6, 2008.

WASHINGTON - Moving day is less than seven weeks away for President George W. and Laura Bush and they have finally settled on a house in the upscale Dallas, Texas neighborhood of Preston Hollow.

The neighborhood is about a 2-hour, 20-minute drive from their 1,600-acre (648-hectare) ranch in Crawford, Texas (according to Google Maps) which they also plan to keep.

“The President and Mrs. Bush do not have occupancy of the home, and therefore, no additional details will be provided,” said Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for the first lady. She declined to say whether the Bushes plan to take advantage of a drop in mortgage rates to buy the new digs.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the president’s personal accountant, as a trustee, had bought a home — valued at almost $2.08 million despite not officially being on the market — in the area on Oct. 3. He declined to tell the newspaper for whom he had bought the house (which has four bedrooms, 8,501 square feet (790 sq metres) of living space including servants’ quarters). 

The newspaper also said that a local blog reported that the house next door  — on the market for $1.6 million — was placed under contract last week but the buyer was not yet known.

And as much as Bush loves the Crawford ranch where he has built bike trails, he will likely be spending a good bit of time in Dallas to oversee his library, museum and an institute on freedom on the campus of Southern Methodist University.

Mrs. Bush on Wednesday was asked by reporters about what she was buying the president for Christmas and she replied that with the sour economy the money likely would be spent on the new home.

“We will be moving to Dallas in January and there might be a new house coming along. So I think that’s where we’ll spend our Christmas money,” she said.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (A home up for sale last year in Dallas)

The Obama girls had other ideas during their first visit to the White House since their father was elected the next president of the United States. Aided and abetted by President George W. Bush’s daughters, Barbara and Jenna, Malia and Sasha Obama did a little bed jumping during their visit.

First Lady Laura Bush told the story ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t the Lincoln Bedroom,” she explained. “It was another bedroom with a very tall bed that we usually put a step out for people to step into when they stay in that room. But instead the little girls did the running jump, and Barbara and Jenna of course aided and abetted that jumping.”

There are other ways for Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, to have fun after they move into the White House.

Bush said that a ramp in the solarium is really good for sliding on your bottom.

In a separate interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters to air Wednesday night, Michelle Obama had some other ideas for her daughters after they move into the White House on January 20.

She has a few White House chores in mind.

“We’re going to have to set up some boundaries because they’re going to need to be able to make their beds, they do that now, that’s going to be one of my goals,” she said.

The White House staff will be free to make mom and dad’s bed, but they will be told to “skip the kids. Let them make their own beds. They have to learn these things.”

Photo credit: Reuters/Ho New (Michelle Obama  meets Laura Bush at White House)

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush and wife Laura will greet their successors Barack and Michelle Obama at the South Portico of the White House at 2 p.m. EST on Monday before giving them a tour of their new home.

They will tour the White House and Bush and the president-elect will stroll over to the Oval Office along the Colonnade between the White House residence and the West Wing. Their wives will have their own private meeting in the White House Residence.

“We are gratified by the invitation. I’m sure that, in addition to taking a tour of the White House, there’s going to be a substantive conversation between myself and the president,” Obama said during his first news conference as president-elect.

Bush this week expressed his excitement at the prospect of welcoming the first African-American president elect to the White House. “It will be a stirring sight to watch President Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their beautiful girls step through the doors of the White House,” he said on Wednesday. (However the daughters Sasha and Malia are not expected on Monday.)

Both the greeting and walk will be seen by the small group of reporters, photographers and a television crew who are nearby the president at all times. No word yet on whether any of the four plan to speak to reporters during their visit.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Mrs. Bush’s dog Miss Beazley walks along the White House Colonnade of the West Wing near the Oval Office of the White House.)

WASHINGTON - It is a celebratory night at the White House this election night, and not just because President George W. Bush learns who will be his successor — it is his wife Laura’s birthday.

The first couple hosted a private dinner with friends and senior staff in the Old Family Dining Room at the White House and Bush gave his wife earrings to celebrate her 62nd birthday, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

The president gave a toast at the start of the dinner thanking everyone for their work and friendship, Perino said. He concluded by saying: “And may God bless whoever wins tonight.”

The group will watch election results in the White House residence as they roll in tonight. Bush, facing record low job approval ratings, has been mostly out of sight during the presidential race.

He participated in numerous closed-door fundraisers around the country and only appearing briefly on three occasions with Republican hopeful John McCain after he clinched his party’s presidential nomination.

While Bush remained secluded in the final days of the campaign, Laura attended a rally in Kentucky on Monday.

“The president believes tonight is a night to appreciate the strength of our country and our democracy, as citizens from all over the country exercised their right to vote today, after a historic campaign,” Perino said. “The president is committed to a transition that is as smooth as possible, a process that has been under way for many months, and as soon as we have a president-elect we’ll be able to do even more on that front.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Bush enters the White House on Sunday after returning from Camp David)

UPDATED - Adds Laura Bush event

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney will take a different approach than his boss to the presidential campaign this last weekend before election day — he will spend it at a public rally in his home state.

Cheney will attend a Get-Out-the-Vote rally in Laramie, Wyoming on Saturday, a rare public sighting on the campaign trail by Cheney or his boss, President George W. Bush. Both have attended numerous fundraisers around the country this election cycle but with their job approval ratings hovering around record lows, they have almost all been closed-door affairs.

Unlike Cheney, Bush is spending the last weekend of the 2008 campaign season secluded at the Camp David presidential retreat.

Cheney’s spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said he plans to spend Election Day on his annual hunting trip in South Dakota and has already voted by absentee ballot — for Republican hopeful John McCain in case anyone had any doubts.

While McCain has been locked in tight races elsewhere, he can likely count on winning Wyoming. The latest polls show him ahead by 20 points.

First Lady Laura Bush will attend a Get-Out-the-Vote rally in Shepherdville, Kentucky on Monday, another state where McCain is ahead by a comfortable margin according to the latest polls.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Cheney in his limousine earlier this month)