Are we hearing the opening chords of the George W. Bush redemption song? The Atlantic thinks so. This week he’s opening his huge presidential library, and a new Washington-ABC poll shows that his job approval rating now – more than four years after he left office – is 47 per cent, as high as it was just after he won re-election in 2004. Ron Fournier has written a piece for the National Journal entitled ‘Go on admit it, George W Bush was a nice guy.’ He tells some touching anecdotes, including this one:
One steamy summer day in 1999, then-Gov. George W. Bush called me with an exclusive interview and interrupted my first question. ‘What’s all that noise in the background, Fournier?’ he asked.
‘I’m at the pool with my kids, governor.’
Bush replied, ‘Then what the hell are you doing answering your phone?’
Damn good question, sir. We quickly ended the interview.
Bush II, much like Tony Blair, still inspires profound loyalty among those who know him personally. I
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