Uncommon Knowledge: George W. Bush

This week on Uncommon Knowledge President George W. Bush discusses postpresidential life and his work at the Bush Institute.
To listen to an mp3 of the interview go to:

[CommanderDragonLily]

Why does bush seem a million times more articulate here than he ever did as president?

[GMBGFX]

Wow; he’s much more articulate and shows much more critical thinking than the media has ever portrayed. Not a bush fan but wow did this surprise me.

[bangthehankers]

"Striving for a legacy is a complete waste of time. A legacy will emerge with the reach of time." Someone ought to send Obama the memo.

[wokewoke]

George Bush was not and obviously is not clueless. Just watch the interview. He is an intelligent compassionate man, and his thoughts on accountability are spot on.

[Allen]

PEPFAR is huge; he deserves immense credit for that.

[thedragonbroke]

I think Bush shows that he is a very critically thinking individual and is highly intelligent in this interview. Also a very down-to-earth guy with an easy sense of humor. But by no means do I think he's stupid. Very in touch with world issues and well-informed. I admire his patriotism, faith and idealism. I think he brings up some intriguing ideas and standpoints that I'll have to think over for a few days. Very good interview that brings up some extremely interesting foreign policy ideas.

[tophersupreme]

Honestly, not what I expected. A very interesting interview.

[The_Lucent_Archangel]

I think the main point he always made was - there is a standard. People must rise to meet it, because it will not be lowered to meet them. A far cry from the society of compromise and hand-outs we've spiraled into since.

[Kitties_are_pretty]

I never thought I'd miss George W. Bush but here I am.

[FoundingFathers-hbtj]

Yeah, Barack missed the lesson. Can’t stay out of the spotlight. The press will never criticize him for it.

[spencerlambert]

"Not paternalistic, but one based on partnership." I won't lie: I may lean to the left but that statement caught me very much off guard in the best possible way. Kudos, Mr. President.

[Ryanboy]

Unfortunately, Fmr President GWB will have the legacy of the Iraq war and the thousands of my brothers and sisters who did not come home or thousands more like myself who came home a shell of his former self with physical and mental scars. This of course doesn't even compare to the human toll in Iraq, millions dead, millions displaced, a country still divided along religious sects and no prospect of near stability. We can talk about the near 4 trillion dollar spending that has gone into Iraq since 2003 but it hardly seems relevant. All of this leads to today's legacy of 22 veterans per day killing themselves in this country with no abatement or attention from our leaders and a Military Industrial Complex thriving and a Biden Administration in lockstep with them.
This is why when GWB can sit on that stage and just giggle and laugh when asked to ponder how history will write his legacy and have no real introspection on how profoundly destructive his decisions were ultimately to the country and the world is deeply troubling to me.
It doesn't help that the questions asked were of such trivial nature that even "W" couldn't muster an ounce of remorse or thought provoking response.

[medi]

Great interview. I love his sense of humour and Peter is great at conducting an interview. So much to learn from this.

[dontsettleformill]

Look how great this man is! Not a single comment is negative!

[MrTmj]

the last 2 minutes of this interview are the best...miss ya dubya.

[mehrizi]

I'm probably one of the very few who miss him. Not because if his Fame or Power but his comedy. He is so not what a President should be but he made it. The true American Dream. Cheers Mr. President.

[jestersunshine]

When he is relaxed he is quite eloquent, used to the bumbling bush I used to see on tv, only he knows what he had to deal with durring his administartion...

[dukerwong]

Rewrite. President Bush is a very kind and decent guy. He and the former 1st Lady Laura Bush went to Africa to ease and help ADIS and cervical cancer women to conquer their sickness, he danced with them and even brush painted their houses with the 1st Lady Laura Bush together. He is not even Black people's origin, but by his great kindness and decency as his nature. I remembered until now and very touched my heart. I can imagine how was he taught and brought up by his parents - our great President Bush 41 and 1st Lady Barbra Bush. He also helps and spends much of his own precious retired time to our country's disabled vets by talking, biking with them...etc by his patriotism and loyalty as well as his kindness, sincereness, caring nature. Although the Bush families were in highest level of the Governing leadership and accumulated much of Governing experiences, but they are just sooo humble, easygoing, down to earth always. He also never criticized his successor President Obama as his own manners and courtesy. This is why I love Bush family a lot. I pray for President Bush 41 healthy and long life. I love President Bush and all of their families.

[BatusaiJack]

4:06 I was FAMOUS and I was POWERFUL...I have no desire for FAME and POWER anymore

[rbanerjee]

I'll be honest, W struck me as far more thoughtful and pensive in this interview than he did during his presidency. He strikes me as someone who genuinely loves America and cares deeply for people, not just Americans. That being said, he surrounded himself with the wrong people and consequently made disastrous decisions which took us into a war which we didn't know how to end and plunged us into a historically deep economic recession