- Former President Barack Obama writes in his new memoir that then-President George W. Bush wrongly predicted in November 2008 that he would sort out the financial crisis before Obama took office.
- 'The good news, Barack, is that by the time you take office, we'll have taken care of the really tough stuff for you,' Bush told Obama in the Oval Office. 'You'll be able to start with a clean slate.'
- Obama writes that Bush's comment left him speechless, but he eventually praised his predecessor for passing the Troubled Asset Relief Program to help ameliorate the crisis in the fall of 2008.
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Former President Barack Obama writes in the first installment of his memoir, 'A Promised Land,' that then-President George W. Bush made an unrealistic prediction when the two met at the White House following the 2008 election. Pithecanthropus erectus charles mingus rar.
Obama recalls the outgoing president claiming that his administration will have largely sorted out the financial crisis, which was the worst since the Great Depression, by the time Obama took office a few months later in January 2009.
'The good news, Barack, is that by the time you take office, we'll have taken care of the really tough stuff for you,' Bush told Obama in the Oval Office, according to Obama. 'You'll be able to start with a clean slate.'
Obama writes that he was 'at a loss for words' for a moment.
Bush credits his wife for bringing his life in order. Prior to marriage, he had several embarrassing episodes with alcohol. Soon after marrying Laura, he joined the United Methodist. Outlook web app sign in. Graduated from Harvard Business School. Was paid $10 million for his memoir Decision Points. Was the 43rd President of the United States. In addition to being 41st President, his father, George Bush, was 43rd Vice-President. Born on the same date as Fred Dryer and Sylvester Stallone. (94) 94 product ratings - 2010 DECISION POINTS - President GEORGE W BUSH Flat SIGNED 1st Edition NEW. Ending Wednesday at 12:27PM PDT 2d 8h. Bush SIGNED BOOK Out of Many, One 1ST EDITION Hardcover PREORDER. Bush Decision Points (signed) & The Matriarch.
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Beginning in September, Bush had directed his Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, to regularly brief both Obama and Republican presidential nominee John McCain on the escalating crisis. Paulson warned both candidates that the country would plunge into a massive depression if Congress didn't act quickly to bail out the banks and stimulate the economy — both in the fall of 2008 and into 2009.
Video: McConnell says 'no reason for alarm' around Trump’s election claims (The Washington Post)
'I'd been talking to Paulson regularly and knew that cascading bank failures and a worldwide depression were still distinct possibilities,' Obama wrote.
But instead of pushing back on Bush's unrealistic prediction, Obama praised the president's successful passage of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which created a $700 billion emergency fund the government used to buy up bad mortgages. Obama helped cement Democratic support behind TARP during the last months of the election even as Republicans and McCain viewed the legislation as a political disaster.
'It took a lot of courage on your part to get TARP passed. To go against public opinion and a lot of people in your own party for the sake of the country,' Obama recalled saying.
'That much at least was true,' Obama wrote. 'I saw no point in saying more.'
Obama argued in his book that while the Bush administration and anti-regulation Republicans deserved the bulk of the blame for the Great Recession, Democrats were also to blame for cheering on 'rising homeownership rates throughout the subprime boom.'
Over the years, Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama developed a friendly personal relationship with Bush and his family. It sparked when Obama first ran for president.
'I disagreed with just about every one of George W. Bush's major policy decisions, but I'd come to like the man, finding him to be straightforward, disarming, and self-deprecating in his humor,' Obama wrote of his predecessor.
CNN’s Jeff Zeleny got his hands on a 700-page preview copy of part one (!) of Barack Obama’s memoir and is reporting on various bon mots throughout the day. We’ve covered a portion in which the 44th president bitterly calls out President Donald Trump’sdivisive exploitation of racist themes. Obama also shared some genuinely kind and gracious words for his predecessor, George W. Bush.
During a morning appearance on CNN Newsroom, Zeleny shared another passage that is completely relevant to the news of this very moment: how capably the 43rd president helped lead a smooth transition to the Obama administration, which left the 44th president remarkably impressed.
Reading from a text, Zeleny quotes Obama’s writing, saying:
“Whether it was because of the respect for the institution, because of lessons learned from his father, bad memories of his own transition or just basic decency, President Bush would end up doing all he could to make the 11 weeks between my election and his departure go smoothly. I promised myself that when the time came I would treat my successor the same way.”
Zeleny goes on to explain how Obama writes in interesting terms about riding in the White House limousine for the first time, sitting next to his predecessor on the way to the Capitol Hill inauguration. Obama saw protestors holding signs attacking Bush that said “indict him” and “war criminal,” which Obama found to be both unnecessary and lacking in grace in the final hour of his presidency.
These last-minute protests said a lot about the “divisions that were churning across the country and the weakening of whatever boundaries of decorum had once regulated politics,” Zeleny cited Obama.
Obama’s bipartisan praise for his successor’s patriotic leadership in the peaceful transfer of power is particularly notable as President Trump refuses to concede he lost an election that looks statistically impossible to flip and is instead focusing on what so far looks like baseless or isolatedexamples of voter fraud.
Decision Points George W Bush
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George W Bush Autobiography
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