Pres. Bush's Last Press Conference

thank you Tapper uh we have been through a lot together as I look to the room I see Jake Mike Herman and Compton just seemed like yesterday that uh that uh I was on the campaign Trail and you were analyzing my speeches and my policies and I see a lot of uh faces that travel with me around the world and to places like Afghanistan and Iraq and Africa uh I see um some new faces uh which goes to show there's some turnover in this business uh through it all it's been uh I I have um respected you um sometimes they didn't like the stories that you wrote or reported on sometimes you um misunderestimated me uh but always the relationship I have felt has been professional and uh I appreciate it uh I appreciate um I do appreciate working with you my friends from say what is it like to deal with the Press car I said these are just people that trying to do the best they possibly can and um and so here at the last press conference I'm um I'm uh interested in answering some of your questions but mostly I'm interested in saying thank you for the job Ben thank you for those comments Mr President for the question I'm wondering if you plan to ask Congress for the remaining $350 billion and B money and in terms of timing if you do that before you leave office or are you motivated in part to make make life little easier for president-elect Obama uh I have talked to the president-elect about this subject um and um I told him that if he felt that he needed the 350 billion I would be willing to ask for it in other words if you felt that it needed to happen on my watch the best course of action of course is to convince enough members of the Senate to vote positively for the for the request and uh and and you know that's all I can share with you because that's all I know so you haven't made the request yet well he hadn't asked me to make the request yet and I don't intend to make the request unless he specifically asked me to make it um he is uh you know I've had a I think this is my third conversation with him and uh I I I generally mean what I say wish him all the very best uh I found him to be very smart and engaging person and uh that lunch the other day was interesting to have two guys who are nearly 85 two 62 year olders and a 47y old so kind of the classic generational statement and one common area uh and at least the four of us we all had different circumstances and experiences but one thing is we've all experience what it means to assume the responsibility of the presidency and president- elect Obama's fixing to do that and he'll get sworn in and they'll have the lunch and all the you know all the deal up there on Capitol Hill and then he'll come back and go through the inauguration and then he'll walk in the Oval Office and there'll be a moment when uh the responsibilities of the president land squarely on his shoulders uh Toby yeah we got everybody here thank you Mr President um do you believe that the Gaza conflict will have ended by the time you leave office do you prove of the way that Israel um has conducted it and why were you unable to achieve the peace deal that you had sought um remind me of the three points we because I'm getting I'm getting a little older will it end by the time you leave office you prove of I hope so I'm for a sustainable ceas fire and uh a definition of sustainable ceasefire is is that Hamas stops firing Rockets into Israel and there will not be a sustainable ceasefire if they continue firing Rockets I I happen to believe the choices amas has to make and uh uh we believe that the best way to ensure that there is a sustainable ceas fire is to work with Egypt uh to stop the smuggling of arms into the Gaza that enables Hamas to continue to fire rockets and uh so countries that Supply weapons uh to Hamas have got to stop and the International Community needs to continue to pressure them to stop providing weapons Hamas obviously if they're interested in a sustainable ceasefire needs to stop you know arming and then of course you know country contingent the Goda need to work to stop the smuggling and it's a difficult difficult task I think there's tunnels and you know great opportunities for people who want to continue to try to disrupt democracy to to provide the weapons to do so second part of your question please ma'am um uh do you approve of Israel conduct in this I I think Israel has a right to defend herself obviously uh in any of these kinds of situations I would hope that she would continue to be mindful of innocent folks and that uh that they uh help you know expedite the delivery of humanitarian Aid and third why haven't we achieved peace why that's a good question it's been a long time since they've had peace in the Middle East uh step one is to have a vision for what peace would look like and uh in 2002 uh on the steps of the uh Rose Garden I gave a speech about a two-state solution uh two states two democracies living side by side in peace and we have worked hard to advance that idea first thing is to convince all parties that the two states were necessary for peace and one thing has happened is is that most people in the Middle East now accept the two-state solution as the best way for peace most Palestinians want their own State and most Israelis understand there needs to be a democracy on their Border in order for there to be long-lasting peace the challenge of course has been uh to lay out the conditions so that a peaceful State can emerge other words helping the Palestinians in the West Bank develop Security Forces which we have worked hard to do over the past years and those security forces are now becoming more efficient and prime minister F Fiat is using them effectively the challenge is to develop help the Palestinians develop a democracy I mean and a vibrant economy in there that will help lead to democracy um and the challenge of course is always Complicated by the fact that people are willing to murder to stop the advance of freedom and so the Hamas or for that matter Al-Qaeda or other extremist groups are willing to use violence to prevent uh free States from emerging and that's the Big Challenge and so the answer is will this ever happen I think it will and I know we have advanced the process uh yeah suzan I finally got your name right after how many years six years eight years you used to be known as Suzanne now you're suzan thank you I'm your 2002 Union Address you identified uh us threats as an axis of Evil Iran Iraq and North Korea Iraq is relatively calm uh North Korea no longer on a terrorist threat list how would you define if in fact there is still an AIS of evil and what is the greatest and most urgent threat when it comes to security that Barack Obama has to De with uh the UR most urgent threat that he'll have to deal with and other presidents after him will have to deal with is uh an attack on our homeland you I wish I could report that's not the case but there's still an enemy out there that would like to inflict damage on America Americans and um that'll be the a major threat North Korea is still a problem uh there is um a debate in the Intel Community about how big a problem they are but one of my concerns is that there might be a uh a highly enriched uranium program and therefore it is really in important that out of the six party talks comes a a uh a strong verification regime in other words in order to advance our relations with North Korea the North Korean government must honor the commitments it made to allow for strong verification measures to be in place to ensure that they don't develop a uh a highly enriched Uranian program for example so they're still dangerous and Iran is still dangerous yeah um you said in an interview earlier uh this weekend one of these I guess exit interviews that this is the ultimate ex you think the Republican party needs to uh be more inclusive who needs to hear that message inside the Republican party yeah you see I am concerned that uh in the wake of the defeat that the Temptation will be to look Inward and to say well if here's a Lous test you must adhere to this party will come back and but the party's message has got to be that different points of view are included in the party and um take for example the immigration debate that's a obviously a highly contentious issue and um the problem with the outcome of the initial round of the debate was that some people said well Republicans don't like immigrants now that may be fair or unfair but that's what that's the image that came out and you know if the image is we don't like immigrants then there's probably somebody else out there saying well if they don't like the immigrants they probably don't like me as well so my point was is that our party has got to be compassionate and broad-minded um I remember the 1964 elections my dad happened to be running for the United States Senate then and uh you know got landsliding with the Johnson landslide in the state of Texas but it wasn't just George Bush who got defeated the Republican party was pretty well decimated at the time at least that's what they I think that's how the pundit viewed it and then 66 there was a Resurgence and the same thing can happen this time but we just got to make sure our message is Broad gauged and compassionate we care about people's lives and we've got a plan to help them improve their lives Jay yeah how you doing I'm good how you doing sir so what have you been doing since 2000 never mind working my way to this chair so are you going to be here uh for President Obama I will I will um it's pretty cool job it's not bad yeah yours might be better yeah what retirement in the in the past when you've been uh asked to address bad poll numbers or your unpopularity you said that history will judge that you did the right thing that you thought you did the right thing but without getting into your motives or your goals I think a lot of people including Republicans including some members of your own Administration have been disappointed at the execution of some of your ideals whether Iraq or Katrina or the economy what would your closing message be to the American people about the execution of these goals well first of all hard things don't happen overnight Jake and um when the history of Iraq has written uh historians will analyze for example the decision on the surge uh the situation was uh looked like it was going fine and then violence for a period of time began to throw um throw the progress of Iraq into doubt and rather than accepting the status quo and saying oh it's not worth it or the politics makes it difficult or you know the party may end up being you know not doing well in the elections because of the violence in Iraq I decided to do something about it and sent 30,000 troops in as opposed to withdrawing uh and so that part of history is certain and and the situation did change now the question is in the long run will this democracy survive and that's going to be the challenge for future presidents uh in terms of the economy uh look I inherited a recession I'm ending on a recession in the meantime there were 52 months of in uninterrupted job growth and I defended tax cuts when I campaigned I helped Implement T tax cuts when I was president and I will defend them after my presidency as the right course of action and there's a fundamental philosophical debate about tax cuts who best can spend your money the government or you and I have always sided with the people on that issue now obviously these are very difficult Economic Times it's um when when people analyze the situation there will be uh uh this problem started before my presidency obviously took place during my presidency the question facing a president is not when the problem started but what did you do about it when you recognized the problem and I readily conceive I chunked aside some of my free market principles when I was told by chief economic advisers that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression so I've told some of my friends who said you know you've taken an IDE IDE ideological position on this issue why'd you do what you did I said well if you were sitting there and heard that the depression could be greater than the Great Depression uh I hope you would act too which I did and we've taken Extraordinary Measures to U deal with the Frozen credit markets which have affected the economy credit spreads are beginning to shrink lending is just beginning to pick up the actions we have taken I believe have helped thaw the credit markets which is the first step toward recovery and so uh yeah look there's plenty of critics in this business and I understand that and I thank you for giving me a chance to defend a record that I am going to continue to defend because I think it's a good strong record Jim thank you Mr President I'd also like to ask you about your critics sure I you know any well a couple of years ago Charles Crow Hammer columnist and Harvard trained psychiatrist coined a term Bush derangement syndrome to talk about your critics who who disagreed with you most passionately not just your policies but seem to take an animosity toward you I'm just wondering as you look back why you think you engendered such passionate criticism animosity and do you have any message specifically to those to to that particular part of uh the spectrum of your critics um you know um most people I see you know when I'm moving around the country for example they're not angry and they're not hostile people people and they uh you know say well you never meet people who disagree this is not true I've met a lot of people who don't agree with the decisions I make but they have been civil in their discourse um and so I I I I view those who get angry and yell and say bad things and you know all that kind of stuff is just a very few people in the country I don't know why they get angry I don't know why they get hostile um it's not the first time however in history that uh people have expressed themselves in sometimes undignified ways I been reading you know a lot about Abraham Lincoln during my presidency and there's some pretty harsh Discord when it came to the 16th president just like there's been harsh Discord for the 30 43rd president you know you I presidents can try to avoid hard decisions and therefore invoid controversy that's just not my nature uh I'm uh the kind of person that uh you know is willing to take take on hard hard tasks and um and in times of War uh people get emotional I understand that uh I've never really you know spent that much time frankly worrying about the loud voices I of course hear them but they didn't affect my policy nor did they effect of fact how I made decisions you know the um president-elect Obama will find this too he'll get in the Oval Office and there'll be a lot of people that U are real critical and harsh and he'll be disappointed at times by the tone of the rhetoric and uh he he's going to have to do what he thinks is Right Jim and uh and if you don't then I'll don't see see how you can live with yourself I don't see how I can get back home in Texas and look in the mirror and be proud of what I see if I allowed the loud voices the loud critics to um prevent me from doing what I thought was necessary to protect this country i m Mr President thank you very much since your philosophy is so different from president-elect Obama's what concerns you the most about what he attempt to do you know Michael I'm not going to um speculate about what he's going to do uh it's going to be you know he's going to get in the Oval Office he's going to analyze each situation and he's going to make the decisions that he think is necessary and uh the other thing is when I get out of here I'm getting off the stage I believe there ought to be you know one person in the colleague lights at a time and I've had my time in the cague lights you I'm confident um you know you'll catch me opining on occasion uh but I I wish him all the best and um people say oh he just that's just a throwaway line no it's not a throwaway line the stakes are high uh there is an enemy that still is out there you know people can maybe try to write that off as uh you know he's trying to set something up I'm telling there's an enemy that would like to attack America Americans again there just is that's the reality of the world and I wish him all the very best and of course he's going to have his hands full with the economy I understand it's tough for a lot of working people out there people are concerned about their economic future you know what one of the very difficult uh parts of the decision I made on the financial crisis was to use hardworking people's money to help prevent there to be a crisis and so doing some of that money went into Wall Street firms that caused a crisis in the first place I wasn't kidding when I said Wall Street got drunk and we got to hangover and uh but nevertheless president- elect Obama will find the problems and the situation surrounding problems sometimes cause people to have to make decisions that they you know weren't initially comfortable with and uh there is such a decision when it came to Wall Street I mean I had a lot of people when I went out to Midland that time say what the heck are you doing boy those people up East caused the problem I said I know but if we hadn't worked to fix the problem your situation would be worse and um anyway I really do wish him all the best Cheryl thank you Mr President um Mr President recent days there's been a fair amount of discussion in legal circles about about whether or not you might give preemptive pardons pardons in advance to officials of your Administration who uh engaged anything from harsh interrogation tactics to uh perhaps dismissing us attorneys and I'd like to know have you given any consideration to this uh I won't be discuss I won't be discussing pards here at this press conference would you like to ask another question sir thank you um four years ago I appreciate that uh four years ago you were asked uh if you had made any mistakes yeah and I'm not trying to play gotcha but I wonder when you look back over the long Arc of your presidency uh do you think in retrospect that you have made any mistakes and if so what is the single biggest mistake that you may have made gotcha uh I I have often said that uh history will look back and determine that which could have been done better or um you know mistakes I made clearly putting a mission accomplished on a aircraft carrier was a mistake it sent the wrong message we were trying to say something differently but nevertheless it conveyed a different message obviously some of my rhetoric has been a mistake um I thought long and hard about Katrina you know could I have done something differently like Land Air Force One either New Orleans or Baton Rouge the problem with that and uh is that um law enforcement would have been pulled away from the mission and then your questions I suspect would have been how could you possibly have flown Air Force One into Baton Rouge and police officers that were needed uh to to expedite traffic out of New Orleans were taking off the task to look after you um I believe that running the Social Security idea right after the 04 elections was a mistake I should have should have argued for immigration reform the reason why is is that you know one of the lessons I learned as governor of Texas by the way is legislative bran just tend to be risk adverse now there's sometimes legislatur have the tendency to ask why should I take on a hard task when the crisis is not imminent and um the crisis was not imminent for so security as far as many members of Congress was concerned as an aside one thing I proved is that you can actually campaign on the issue and get elected in other words I I don't believe talking about social security is the third rail of American politics I matter of fact think that in the future not talking about how you intend to fix Social Security is going to be the third rail of American politics uh and the one thing about the presidency is that uh you you can make only make decisions you know on the uh information at hand you don't you you don't get to have information after you've made the decision it's not the way it works and you you're you you stand by your decisions and you do your best to explain why you made the decisions you made um there have been disappointments Abu GB obviously was a huge disappointment during the presidency um you know not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not but there were things didn't go according to plan let's put it that way and uh anyway I think uh historians will look back and they'll be able to have a better look at mistakes after some time has passed i i i along Jake's question there is no such thing as short-term history um I don't think you can possibly get the full breadth of an Administration so time has passed you know where does a president's uh did a president's decisions have the impact that he thought they would or he thought they would over time or how did this President compare to Future presidents given a set of circumstances that may be similar or not similar I mean there's it's just impossible to do and uh and I'm comfortable with that yeah Mike one of the uh major uh objectives that the incoming Administration has talked frequently about is restoring America's moral standing in the world and many of the allies of the new president and I believe the the president-elect himself has talked about how damage that GMO that uh harsh interrogation tactic that they consider torture how going to war in Iraq without a un mandate have damaged America's moral standing in the world yeah I'm wondering basically what is your reaction to that do you think that is something that America the next president needs to worry about I strongly disagree with the assessment that our moral standing has been damaged it may be damaged amongst some of the elite but people still understand America stands for Freedom that America uh is um is uh a country that provides such great hope you go to Africa you ask Africans about Americans generosity and compassion go to India and ask about you know America's their view of America go to China and ask now no question parts of Europe have said that uh we shouldn't have gone to war in Iraq without a mandate but those are a few countries most countries in Europe uh listen to what 1441 said which is disclose disarm or face serious consequences most people take those words uh seriously now some countries didn't and uh even though they might have voted for the resolution uh I I I uh I I disagree with this assessment that you know people view America in a dim light I just don't agree with that and I understand the G Mo has created controversies but when it came time for those countries that were criticizing America to take some of those U some of those detainees they weren't willing to help out uh and uh so you know just disagree with the assessment Mike I remind listen I I I I I I tell people yeah you can try to be popular in certain quarters in Europe you can be popular by blaming every Middle Eastern problem on Israel or you could be popular by joining the international criminal court I guess I could have been Popular by accepting Kyoto which I felt was a flawed treaty and proposed something different and more constructive and uh in terms of the decisions that I have made to protect the Homeland I wouldn't worry about popularity what I would worry about is the Constitution of the United States and put plans in place that makes it easier to find out what the enemy is thinking CU all these debates will matter not if there's another attack on the Homeland the question won't be you know were you critical of this plan or not the question is be why didn't you do something you remember what it was like right after September the 11th around here in press conferences and opinion pieces and then stories that sometimes were new stories and sometimes the opinion pieces people were saying how come they didn't see it how come they didn't connect the dots you remember what the environment was like in Washington I do when people were hauled up in front of Congress and members of Congress were asking questions about how come you didn't know this that or the other and then we start putting you know policy in place legal policy in place to connect the dots and all of a sudden people were saying how come you're connecting the dots and uh so Mike uh you know I I I've heard all that I've heard all that my view is is that most people around the world they respect America and some of them doesn't like me I understand that some of the writers and you know opers and all that that's fine that's part of the deal but I'm more concerned about the country and uh and and and our what how people view the United States of America they view us a strong compassionate people who care deeply about the universality of Freedom Roger uh thank you uh Mr President do you spoke a moment ago about using taxpayers money for the tart program yes I did the first 350 billion is out the door it's been spent are you satisfied that it's been spent wisely and for the second 350 that's under consideration do you think are you supportive of Congress putting some restrictions on it uh I'm I'm supportive of the president-elect working out a plan with Congress that best suits him and Congress that's what he's going to have to do he's going to have to go up there and he's going to have to make his case as to why the 350 is necessary and he knows that this is nothing new and in terms of the first 350 I am pleased with this aspect of the uh expenditure and that is that the financial markets are beginning to thaw and the fall I was concerned that the credit freeze would cause us to be uh head head toward a depression greater than the Great Depression that's what I was told if we didn't move and so therefore we have moved uh you know aggressively and by the way it just wasn't with the tarp you know if you think about AIG Fanny and Freddy a lot of the decisions that uh that were made in this Administration are very aggressive decisions all aiming at preventing the um Financial system from uh from cratering president you spoke of the uh moment that the responsibility of the office would hit Barack Obama the world's a far different place than it was when it hit you uh when do you think he's going to feel the full impact and what if anything have you and the other president shared with him about the effects of the sometimes isolation the so-called bubble of the office that's a great question uh he'll I I he will feel the effects the minute he walks in the Oval Office at least that's what I felt I don't know when he's going he may feel it the minute he get sworn in and U minute I got sworn in I was starting thinking about the speech and so uh but he's a better speech maker than me so he'll be able to he'll be able to I don't know how he's going to feel all I know is he's going to feel it there will be a moment when he feels it um I have never felt isolated and I don't think he will one reason he won't feel isolated is because he's got a fabulous family and he cares a lot about his family that's evident from my discussions with him he he's a 45 second commute away from a great wife and two little girls that love him dearly um I I I believe this the phrase burdens of the office is overstated you it's kind like why all the burdens you know what why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch it's just pathetic in itself self-pity and I and I don't believe uh president- elect Obama will be full of self-pity uh he will find you know you're the people that don't like you they're the critics they're they're pretty predictable sometimes the biggest appoint disappointments will come from your so-called friends and there'll be disappointments I promise you he'll be disappointed uh on the other hand the job is so exciting and so profound that uh the uh uh the the disappointments are will be clearly um you know a minor irritant compared to the the loneliest office in the world n not for me uhuh we had a you know people we we I had a fabulous team around me of Highly dedicated smart capable people and we had fun I tell people that you know some days happy some days not so happy every day has been joyous and people you know they say I just don't believe it to be the case well it is the case uh even in the darkest moments of Iraq you know there was uh and you know every day when I was reading the reports about soldiers losing their lives and there no question there was a lot of emotion but but also there was times where we could be light-hearted and support each other and uh you know I built a team of really capable people uh who were there not to serve me or there to serve the Republicans they were there to serve the country and um and president-elect Obama will find you know as he makes these tough calls and tough decisions that uh he'll be supported by a lot of really good people that care care about the country as well John you've talked a lot uh about your concerns over the rise of protectionism in the current yeah uh economic environment what do you think the the uh future holds for that do you think the trend is a good one or a bad one I I hope the trend is bad against protectionism a disappointment uh not a mistake but a disappointment was not getting the three trade bills out of Congress on Colombia Panama and South Korea that was a disappointment I actually thought we had a shot at one time and then I was disappointed that they didn't move out of out of the house and uh I am concerned about protectionism in in in tough Economic Times the Temptation is to is to say well let's just throw up barriers and you know protect our own and not compete that was a sentiment by the way that was in place during decent Economic Times after all we got CF out of the Congress by one vote and uh it would be a huge mistake if we become a protectionist nation um and you maybe that might be a good thing for the bush Center to do at SMU is to remind people about the benefits of free and fair trade benefits for our own workers benefits for workers overseas and benefits when it comes to promoting development and uh helping lift people out of poverty in particularly third world countries the best way to enhance uh economic growth in a third world country and to give people a chance to realize you know a better future is to trade it's been proven it's it's a fact and uh I'm hopeful that um I'm hopeful the country doesn't slip into protectionist policy April yes ma'am thank you Mr President um you were sound asleep back there so I no I wasn't there was a whole clear before me I thought you were going to go there but either way thanks for the surprise um Mr President um on New Orleans you uh basically talked about a moment ago about the photo opportunity but let's talk about what you could have done uh to change the situation for the City of New Orleans to be further along in reconstruction than where it is now and also uh when you came or began to run for the Oval Office about 9 years ago or so uh the Jamesburg Dragon death was residue on your campaign and now at this time 2009 we have the first black president could you tell us what you have seen on the issues of race as you see it from the sure thanks first of all uh we did get the 121 billion more or less dollars passed and that is now being spent secondly the school system is improving dramatically thirdly people are beginning to move back into homes this storm was a devastating storm April that required a lot of energy a lot of focus and a lot of resources to get New Orleans up and running and has the Reconstruction been perfect no have things happened fairly quickly absolutely and is there more to be done you bet there is to be done uh well more people need to get in their houses more people need to you know have their own home there but but the the systems are in place to continue the Reconstruction of New Orleans um you know people said the federal response was slow don't tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed you know I I I remember going to see those um helicopter drivers Coast Guard drivers to thank them for their courageous efforts to rescue people off roofs 30,000 people were pled off roofs right after the storm moved through it's a pretty quick response could things have been done done better absolutely absolutely but when I hear people say the federal response was slow then what are they going to say to those Chopper drivers or the 30,000 that got pulled off the roofs uh the other part of the look I I was affected by TV after uh after the elections when I saw people saying uh I never thought I would see the day that a black person would be elected president and a lot of people had tears streaming down their cheeks when they said it and uh and so I am uh I am considering myself fortunate to have a front row seat on what is going to be an historic moment for the country um president-elect Obama's election does speak volumes about about how far this country has come when it comes to racial relations but there's still work to do there's always going to be work to do to deal with people's hearts uh and um so I'm I'm uh I'm looking forward to it really am I think it's going to be it's going to be an amazing U amazing moment Michael Allan yeah Michael Allen Mr President be you Mr President often uh presidents go uh leave here they say they're going to decompress and then pretty soon they're right back in their office I wonder how quickly you think you're going to be back at it whether it's writing your book whether it's speaking whether it's traveling or overseas you know Mike I don't know probably next day I'm a type A personality you know I just uh I just can't envision myself you know the big straw hat and Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach um so particularly since I quit drinking anyway um so I predict to you that first of all I'm not sure what to expect for the last eight years you know I have had a national security briefing every day but Sunday and when you get a national security briefing uh it is a reminder of the responsibilities of the job it's just a daily reminder uh about you know what may or may not happen the interesting thing about this job by the way is is uh it's one thing to deal with the expected you know but you anticipate the real challenge is to be in a position to deal with the unexpected and that's why those Intel briefings are so important because uh um there is a there's an awareness in the briefings by the analyst U to try to help anticipate problems and of course you hope they don't arise but you better be prepared when they do and that in itself creates a you know gets your attention when you start thinking about what could happen uh and the key there of course is that to take uh these you know these these different U analyses seriously and then have a structure so that your team will be in a position to analyze and then lay out potential uh opport uh avenues for the president from which the president can choose I I say all that because that's that's this has been this notion about being briefed and thinking about this issue or that issue has been just you know part of my life for eight years people say well there you are in Crawford on vacation you never escape the presidency it travels with you everywhere you go and there's not a moment where you don't think about being president unless you're riding mountain bikes as hard as you possibly can trying to forget for the moment uh and so I wake up in Crawford uh Tuesday morning I mean Wednesday morning and um I suspect I'll make Laura coffee and you know go get it for her and it's going to be a different feeling and I can't just kind to like I'll report back after I feel it last question Ann since you've been there from day one oh thank you and I wanted to ask you about day one you arrived here wanting to be a uniter not a divider do you think Barack Obama can be a uner not a divider or is with the challenges for any president and the unpopular decisions is it impossible for any president to be a uniter not a divider I hope the tone is different for him than it has been for me I am disappointed by the tone in Washington DC uh I have uh I try to do my part by by not engaging in the name calling and uh by the way needless name calling um I work to be respectful of my opponents uh on different issues there we did find some good common ground on a variety of issues No Child Left Behind Medicare prescription drugs pepar uh in the end the funding for troops in Iraq um we tax cuts to a certain said got got some bipartisan votes on them um there have been areas where we were able to work together it's just the rhetoric got out of control why I don't know why you need to ask those who uh those who uh use the words they used uh as I say it's not the first time it's ever happened as uh I think I answered that to Jim there it's it's happened throughout our history and I would hope that that uh frankly for the sake of the the system itself that if people disagree with the president-elect Obama they treat him with respect um you know I I I worry about people looking at our system saying why would I want to go up there and you know work in that kind of environment and um uh so I wish him all the best and uh and no question he'll be um he'll there will be critics and there should be we we we all should welcome criticism on different policies a great thing about our democracy people have a chance to express themselves I just hope the tone is respectful he deserves it and so does the country it has been a honor to work with you I meant what I said when I first got up here I wish you all the very best wish you and your families all the best God bless you that

Channel: C-SPAN

Views: 1,501,995

Keywords: George, Bush, Press, News, Conference, White, House, president

Id: ZZkKTTZuxO8

Length: 47min 3sec (2823 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 12 2009