President Bush has emerged from the pre-election shadows to give his first post-Presidency interview to Matt Lauer, including details of his upcoming book about his time in the Oval Office.
In it, Bush is taking on such weighty issues as Kanye West's opinion of him, and the political wisdom of a photograph taken of him during the Katrina disaster. The photo shows the President looking out the window of Air Force One at a flooded New Orleans far below. Bush says in the interview that he "knew immediately that the photo was a mistake", and that he paid a political price for it, as he looked detached and out of touch.
It's a disgusting comment to make. NO, Mr. President, the photo was fine, it was your actually being out of touch, your fiddling on vacation in Texas while the disaster unfolded and allowing 1300 people to drown that was the mistake. Your ignorance of your horrible role in the tragedy was the mistake, and you owe all of us an apology for that failing.
The people of New Orleans, the family members of the Katrina victims, the victims themselves and the rest of your country deserve that apology, one they are obviously never going to receive, as you are so obviously and horribly detached from the role your inaction and indifference played in the extent of the tragedy.
It didn't have to be that way. You could have been as decisive on that score as you were on waterboarding. You could have ordered every available military helicopter to the Gulf. You could have immediately sacked "Brownie" instead of praising him, and you could have stopped your plane in Baton Rouge instead of continuing on your merry and ignorant way.
And then you are mad at Kanye West? How else was he supposed to interpret your indifference?
It wasn't the photo that was the mistake, President Bush. It was your whole sorry Presidency, and the way you neglected both your responsibilities and your citizens. It disgusts me.
Quite obviously, it's too much for us to expect your shame or humility. But don't be surprised if that admission, and the others you are making in this book and interview to become your own Frost Nixon.