George W. Bush Sings a Different Tune

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 7, 2013
All Rights Reserved.                                      

              Known while president as “Reagan light,” George W. Bush and his wife Laura met with ABC’s “This Week” host George Stepahanpoulos in Zambia, breaking his four-and-a-half-year media blackout since leaving office Jan. 20, 2008.  Famous for his electoral strategy of courting Christian conservatives, Bush’s no longer obligated to evangelicals outraged by the Supreme Court’s June 26 invalidation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by none other than former President Bill Clinton Sept. 21, 1996, preventing same-sex married couples from collecting federal benefits.  Interviewed in Zambia by ABC News Chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, Bush sang a different tune.  “I shouldn’t be taking a speck out of someone else’s eye when I have a log in my own,” said Bush, making a vague biblical reference and appeal for more tolerance.

             When asked to clarify his answer, Bush dodged anything real about the Supreme Court’s ruling.  “I meant it’s very important for people to not be overly critical of someone else until you’ve examined your own heart,” said the former president, taking a very different view from when he needed Christian evangelicals for his election in 2000 and reelection in 2004.  Not only was he and Vice President Dick Cheney opposed to gay marriage, they completely shunned Cheney’s lesbian daughter Mary, fearing a backlash from religious conservatives.  Bush’s newfound tolerance comes from no longer needing the religious right for any more votes.  If Bush’s brother Jeb decides to run in two years for the GOP nomination as rumored, W’s public remarks could come back to haunt him.  Opposed to gay marriage when president, Bush now has the luxury of hindsight to change his mind.

             Given Bush’s conservative credentials, it’s ironic his crowning achievement was signing Medicare’s prescription drug bill into law Jan. 1, 2006, costing the federal government an estimated $100 billion a year.  While there’s nothing wrong spending U.S. tax dollars on benefits for taxpayers, Bush’s Achilles Heel was the money spent on foreign wars, especially the unpopular Iraq War.  When Bush went to war in Iraq March 20, 2003, he enjoyed a 80% approval rating, in part for his handling of Sept. 11.  By the time he left office Jan. 20, 2009, his approval ratings had dropped to 25%, mostly for driving the economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression.  Saying little about the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars to ABC News, Bush preferred to talk about how he supported President Barack Obama’s policies on terror, especially continuing his aggressive predator drone program.

                Bush’s 2006 immigration reform bill passed the U.S. Senate and died in the House.  Taking a progressive stance then, Bush also supports today’s efforts in Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.  “It’s a very difficult bill to pass because  there’s a lot of moving parts,” Bush told Stephanopoulos.  “But it looks like they’re making some progress,” regarding votes in the U.S. Senate.  Whether or not the current immigration bill meets the same fate as Bush’s is anyone’s guess.  Conservative oppose the bill because the citizenship provisions are viewed as “amnesty,” the same problem in the House that killed in 2006.  “Good policy yields good politics, as far as I’m concerned,” said Bush regarding the fate of the current immigration reform bill.  With midterm election scheduled for next year, it’s doubtful that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will back the legislation.

              Bush played it safe refusing to criticize Obama’s economic or foreign policy, realizing his long absence from the media was subject to criticism.  His media profile increased in April when he and five other living presidents dedicated his presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.  Raising his profile this week, Bush and Laura attended the dedication of a new woman’s health clinic in Zambia.  “People admire America,” Bush told Karl.  “Africans are thrilled with the idea that American taxpayers funded programs that saved lives,” pointing to his Pink and Red Ribbon initiative to expand cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment.  “This is one of his crowning achievements,” said Obama, referring to Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR], promoting AIDS prevention and treatment and women’s health in Sub-Saharan Africa.

             Getting back in the headlines after a long media drought, Bush can cause problems for his brother galvanizing interest in a possible 2016 presidential run.  If Jeb doesn’t repudiate the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on same-sex marriage, it’s going to throw evangelical support to more conservative candidates, like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) or House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).  Favoring today’s immigration reform also doesn’t sit well with fiscal conservatives, convinced that immigration reform would hand out more government largess to illegal aliens.  Unless W is deliberately trying to sabotage his brother’s chances in 2016, he’s be better off zipping it.  With the GOP split between Tea Party-type conservatives, evangelicals and what’s left of old-school moderates, putting Jeb in the same-sex marriage crowd could undermine his chances years before the fact.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.