George W. Bush has remained mostly out of view and silent on policy debates since leaving office 19 months ago.
Now, the former president is about to step into the public arena again, at a moment when Washington is revisiting tax cuts, stem cells and other issues that were among the most contentious of his administration.
After remaining mostly out of view and silent on policy debates since leaving office, George W. Bush is about to promote his memoir, to be published a week after the Nov. 2 elections. Peter Wallsten has details.Mr. Bush is re-emerging to promote his memoir, to be published a week after the Nov. 2 elections.
While the timing suggests that the book will not provide fodder for midterm campaigns, Mr. Bush will return to the public eye just as the Republican Party looks ahead to asserting greater power in Congress and to choosing its 2012 presidential nominee, and as President Barack Obama accuses the GOP of wanting to take the country back to Bush-era programs that, the Democratic president says, “drove the car into the ditch.”
View Full ImageAnd the contents of his memoir make it likely that his voice will be heard on policy issues of the moment.
The book, “Decision Points,” published by Crown Publishing Group, lays out 14 major decisions by Mr. Bush during his life and White House tenure. Among them, according to several people who have seen the manuscript: backing the bailout of the nation's financial system, enacting billions of dollars in tax cuts, limiting the use of human embryonic stem cells, and building up troops in Iraq for the so-called surge.
Some of those issues have regained prominence recently.
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