George W. Bush emerged from the murky past early this week and we just have to deal with it. The president with the lowest job ratings since god knows when has emerged from a north Texas mcmansion. He's out on a book tour. He "hedges," he is "defensive," but also curiously jovial, probably detached.
There was something jarring about suddenly seeing George W. Bush on screen again and it wasn’t just déjà vu. It was more like running into a former spouse after many years: no matter how bitter or amicable the separation, that first reunion is disconcerting — the ex seems both eerily the same and weirdly diminished. Two years ago he left office with two wars raging and an economy in free fall, an embattled commander in chief with the lowest approval ratings of any modern president. Now Mr. Bush is offering himself up as a chatty president emeritus, sometimes defiant and other times cheerful, on a media blitz to promote his memoir, “Decision Points.” ...NYT
The Times reporter makes a good point. The appearance in an hourlong interview on NBC evidently showed a man who has learned nothing. Instead it "offered viewers a visceral reminder of what Mr. Bush was like before he entered the Oval Office."
It's Groundhog Day.
