I knew I had seen W during my childhood!
September 2, 2007
In Book, Bush Peeks Ahead to His Legacy
WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 — When President Bush is asked what he plans to do when he leaves office, he often replies curtly: “I don’t have that much time to think beyond my presidency” or “I’m going to sprint to the finish.”
But in an interview with a book author in the Oval Office one day last December, he daydreamed about the next phase of his life, when his time will be his own.
First, Mr. Bush said, “I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.” With assets that have been estimated as high as nearly $21 million, Mr. Bush added, “I don’t know what my dad gets — it’s more than 50-75” thousand dollars a speech, and “Clinton’s making a lot of money.”
Then he said, “We’ll have a nice place in Dallas,” where he will be running what he called “a fantastic Freedom Institute” promoting democracy around the world. But he added, “I can just envision getting in the car, getting bored, going down to the ranch.”
For now, though, Mr. Bush told the author, Robert Draper, in a later session, “I’m playing for October-November.” That is when he hopes the Iraq troop increase will finally show enough results to help him achieve the central goal of his remaining time in office: “To get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence,” and, he said later, “stay longer.”
But fully aware of his standing in opinion polls, Mr. Bush said his top commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, would perhaps do a better job selling progress to the American people than he could.
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Images: (W on boat) hosted.ap.org via pbd.blogspot.com; (w in fire engine) AP Photo via i.cnn.net; (black box) regmedia.co.uk via reghardware.co.uk; (Babs snarling) sanityisland.us via freerepublic.com; (Nuke symbol) melbourne.indymedia.org; (W on his butt) realnews247.com via bagnewsnotes.typepad.com; (Our Gang fire engine pix) rascalandusa.com; (boat) minorcon.com;