Tales from the Trail

George W. Bush is slowly starting to emerge from a self-imposed cone of silence that he has generally adhered to since leaving Washington for Texas when he turned over the presidency to Barack Obama.

President No. 43 gave a lecture at the University of Texas in Tyler, Texas, on Tuesday and spoke before a sold-out crowd of 2,000 people. All this is according to the Tyler newspaper.

Bush talked up a book he has written about major decisions he made as president, “Decision Points,” which is to be published on Nov. 9. The author will be doing a number of major interviews surrounding the publication of his memoir, including with a Facebook fan.

“This will come as a shock to some people in our country who didn’t think I could read a book, much less write one,” he joked.

And he does miss some things about the White House.

“I miss being pampered. I miss Air Force One. I miss being commander-in-chief of an awesome group of (people),” he said.

Bush talked about one of the big final decisions he made that has been a point of debate this campaign year — the bank bailouts that Obama continued when he came to office.

Bush said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told him, “If you don’t do something significant, you’re likely to see a depression greater than the Great Depression.”

“Depression, no depression,” Bush said. “It wasn’t that hard for me, just so you know. I made the decision to use your money to prevent the collapse from happening.”

Bush also said he read a dozen biographies of Abraham Lincoln while in office, and, “I think he’s the country’s greatest president.”

Photo credit: Reuters/Hans Deryk (Bush and former Texas Rangers pitching great Nolan Ryan)