White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest hammered George W. Bush the facts about his failed presidency after Bush arrogantly criticized President Obama’s foreign policy.
Transcript via The White House:
Q One other quick topic. Former President George W. Bush has been quoted as having made a wide array of remarks about President Obama and his handling of foreign policy in an ostensibly private setting. First, does this administration regard that with those comments to a group of 700 people, former President Bush has effectively violated his own pledge and claim that he does not publicly criticize his successor?
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
MR. EARNEST: Well, the fact that I think that in his mind he did not consider this to be a public setting, it was an off-the-record setting, I don’t think that was his intent.
At the same time, he didn’t renounce his ability or his right to share his views on a range of issues, including foreign policy. As a former President of the United States he is somebody who has spent a lot of time thinking about these issues, and he certainly is entitled to share those views in public or in private with whomever he likes. At the same time, I don’t think it’s a surprise — I don’t think it was a surprise to anybody in that room, and I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody in this room that President Bush might have some differences with President Obama when it comes to foreign policy.
Q One of the things he is reported to have said, and I quote, is, “Just remember the guy who slit Danny Pearl’s throat is in Gitmo, and now they’re doing it on TV” — a reference to ISIS. And the apparent argument being that the current administration has allowed a group like ISIS to become the threat that it has, that it wasn’t a threat on the day George W. Bush left office. Your response?
MR. EARNEST: Well, I do think that we have made the case aggressively before, and I think it’s backed up by extensive evidence that there are links between al Qaeda in Iraq and ISIL. And the fact is al Qaeda was not in Iraq prior to President Bush’s decision to commit significant American military resources on the ground in that country. And that is a historical fact.
But again, the fact that President Bush has a different perspective and a different philosophy when it comes to foreign policy is just a well-known difference. In the minds of many people, it’s the principal reason that President Obama is sitting in the Oval Office right now.
Earnest was correct. George W. Bush’s failed foreign policy is one of the things that got President Obama elected. The other being the economy that George W. Bush pushed to the brink of depression.
It boggles the mind that Bush could make the argument that America was safer under his watch when he was in charge during the worst terrorist attack on domestic soil in the history of the country.
Democrats never say it out loud, but every time George W. Bush speaks, Hillary Clinton gets another step closer to being elected president. Besides having Bush’s brother as the Republican nominee, the best case scenario for Democrats would be a reappearance of George W. Bush.
The man who told America that catching Bin Laden was not something that he thought about wants you believe that the President, who did what he wouldn’t, is doing a bad job.
There would be no ISIS if Bush did not invade Iraq. George W. Bush destabilized an entire region of the world in order to fight a war of choice.
Without George W. Bush’s horrible foreign policy, President Obama might not be occupying the White House today.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
