Bush reflects on legacy: 'I'm leaving with the same set of values'
President Bush says he wants to be remembered as a president who stuck to his values. (GETTY IMAGES)
(CNN) - Reflecting on his eight-year presidency, President Bush said above all he would like to be remembered as a commander-in-chief who remained faithful to his values and "did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process."
In an interview with his younger sister, Doro Bush Koch, the president said he was forced to make several difficult choices during his tenure in the White House, but added "I darn sure wasn't going to sacrifice [my] values."
Excerpts of the interview, released by The White House [PDF]
"I came to Washington with a set of values, and I'm leaving with the same set of values," Bush told Koch in an interview taped earlier this month that aired on National Public Radio Thursday.
Bush also indicated he hopes his legacy is evaluated on success in the War in Iraq, America's efforts to combat AIDS, and the passage of Medicare legislation in 2003.
"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; that led an effort to help relieve HIV/AIDS and malaria on places like the continent of Africa; that helped elderly people get prescription drugs and Medicare as a part of the basic package; that came to Washington, D.C., with a set of political statements and worked as hard as I possibly could to do what I told the American people I would do," Bush said.
In the same wide-ranging interview, Bush said it was a "fabulous experience to be president," but said he would not miss being in the daily spotlight.
"This is a job which, you know, obviously had a lot of stress to it; it has a lot of pressure," he said.
The interview was conducted for StoryCorps, a national oral history initiative.
From CNN Politics
- Untitled
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- Lawmakers reluctant to pursue gun control measures following Nashville school shooting
- DeSantis plans to travel to Jerusalem as tumult strains Netanyahu-Biden relationship
- Harris faces painful Black history in emotional slave outpost visit
- Kentucky law aimed at increasing parental oversight in education takes effect
Will someone please explain those values to the millions whose losing their jobs and thousands lives lost in Iraq. I don't question your faith or your values but have concerns about your use of power.
Apparently he still has not heard what we are saying. Mr. Bush your attempt at being 'our' president was a failure. Please leave and do no more harm.
He did sell his soul and anything else he could get his hands on! I think that George W Bush is the worst president that I've ever seen in my lifetime.
"I'd like to be...(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."
I didn't do any of those things but that is how I would like to be known.
Sorry, Mr. President, you may not have literally sold your soul but your actions show that you bought the agenda of some very bad people and helped to push it onto the world.
You leave office with the world a much more dangerous and treacherous place.
you all make me sick, not him
Just go!
After trying to destroy the US Constitution (but failing), impose his tribal, goat-herder religious mores on the country (but failing), diminish the US status in the world community (successful), garnering historical acclaim as a great warrior (but failing), allowing the gutting of the US economy through the mortgage ponzi scheme (nearly successful), this silver-spooned dolt, boastful of his walking style, brags that his mind is just as vacuous now as when he came to office and will take that vacuum home; good riddance.
Bush,
You'll be known as a fool & a simpleton.
You allowed Cheney & the other NeoCon idiots to own Foreign Policy agenda / vision. You also allowed an alarming amount of partisianship to occurs in many many levels of the Govt. How many unqualified / fit-to-be-in-their-positions did you allow as permanent jobs?
Ooops in many parts of the country you already are. See your legacy has already been entrenched! At best you'll be simply be seen as a tragic, pity figure once the anger subsides [many years from now], and a low point in modern U.S. politics.
How could he sell something he never had in the first place?
This is sickening. The man is clueless, but thank God, the country isn't.
Here's to better days ahead, with the "real America" shining through.
you petty people
He obviosly had no or very low values going in and leaves with the same. He has no grasp of the debris he leaves in his wake, crushing our economy, our militay, our reputation, and our future. He is either delusional or does not have the berrys to face up to how bad he has hurt this country. Good ridance "W".
he must have been smoking a big fatty if he actually believes what he says.
He's a total moron and will go down in history as the absolute worse President of the United States. He needs to go to his ranch in Crawford and hopefully stumbles as he is stringin barbwire
How delusional is George Bush to think that is "legacy"will be anything other than the destruction of America?? January 20, 2009 cannot get there soon enough. Bush is a disgrace to America and it's people.
I wonder what planet he is from ? He still does not get what a disaster he has been.
I wish more people would have seen that the top priority of this Administration was to get Sadaam, to clear the family name for not getting him in the first war. Daddy was smarter than son.
The new Administration will have his hands full cleaning up the mess he has made.
All we can do is hope.
OMG! He is hallucinating. If he was any kind of human being, he would leave today. Help us all!
I'd like to think that being President and the most powerful person in the world would serve to change a man for the better. To remain static, to not improve in such an experience, only highlights the diminutive intellectual stature of this man.
what values????
put him on trial right now!
Idiot! We could still impeach him if congress and the senate had any backbone.
I would like to think our President would make decisons based on what is right for our country not his personal "cowboy" values. Oh, silly me!
Regardless of his mistakes, we have to be grateful to him for taking this high office and I strongly believe he did his utmost to improve the quality of our lives
A Republican has VALUES??? That makes me laugh.
Bush/Cheney 4 more years!!!!!!!!!
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.