[quote]WASHINGTON — President Obama invited former President George W. Bush to join him at ground zero in New York City on Thursday to mark the killing of Osama bin Laden, but Mr. Bush declined, a spokesman for the former president confirmed on Tuesday.
“President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday,” said his spokesman, David Sherzer. “He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight. He continues to celebrate with Americans this important victory in the war on terror.”
The White House did not confirm that the invitation had been made or comment on Mr. Bush’s decision.
Mr. Obama has talked this week of his hope that the successful raid on the compound where Bin Laden was hiding could serve as a unifying force in a country divided by battles over fiscal policy and many other issues. Many Republicans have praised Mr. Obama for the success of the operation.
On Monday, White House officials said Mr. Obama would go to Lower Manhattan to visit the site of the World Trade Center and meet with families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, which were masterminded by Bin Laden.
Since leaving the White House, Mr. Bush has generally stayed out of the public eye, and avoided commenting on his successor. He made an exception last year when Mr. Obama asked him and former President Bill Clinton to travel to Haiti after the earthquake as his emissaries.
Mr. Bush spent much of his time in office presiding over the hunt for Bin Laden. A few days after Sept. 11, he made one of the most dramatic public appearances of his presidency, standing atop the smoldering ruins of the towers and speaking to rescue workers on a firefighter’s bullhorn.[/quote]
source [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/us/04bush.html[/url]
He wants to stay out of the spotlight, but I think he's just upset that he didn't get Osama.
That's not very patriotic
After you've done 8 years of possibly one of the most stressful jobs in existence I'd want to stay out of the spotlight as well.
sounds like he's butthurt
[editline]2[/editline]
hell, i'd be
He should have gone. Some people might take this the wrong way.
[QUOTE=OvB;29605428]He should have gone. Some people might take this the wrong way.[/QUOTE]
It's best not to pay any attention to the way morons take things.
bush is just a cunt.
i respect his decision, i wouldnt want to be in spotlight either after being considered the worst president in recent history by many people
but it seems fitting for him to go, the one who started the hunt and the one who finished it meeting together at the site of the most horrible terrorist attack in us history
Bush accomplished his mission long ago,
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
[QUOTE=OvB;29605428]He should have gone. Some people might take this the wrong way.[/QUOTE]
the only news organizations that would distort it would be fox news, and Bush is a republican, they won't say anything bad about him.
[QUOTE=xKAZUYAx;29605458]bush is just a cunt.[/QUOTE]
I don't really blame him. He wants to live a normal life.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;29605517]Bush accomplished his mission long ago,
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02[/QUOTE]
Oh dear if you think he put the US in Afghanistan not to get Osama.
[QUOTE=Boba_Fett;29605571]I don't really blame him. He wants to live a normal life.[/QUOTE]
Bush seems like the kind of person who would be great to know, but just isn't that great of a leader.
He accepts the fact that he doesn't deserve much credit. Smart.
It would be nice of him to attend, but it's understandable that he won't.
[QUOTE=Trunk Monkay;29605519]the only news organizations that would distort it would be fox news, and Bush is a republican, they won't say anything bad about him.[/QUOTE]
Republican? Ahahaha. No, he's a Bonesman.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;29605423]After you've done 8 years of possibly one of the most stressful jobs in existence I'd want to stay out of the spotlight as well.[/QUOTE]
For some reason people make him out to be the devil in the flesh, I'd stay out of sight too. I think it's nice he's letting Obama have his time in the sun.
[editline]4th May 2011[/editline]
I kind of imagine him saying something like this "You know Barry, I didn't know how this would turn out and I tried my best with the cards I was dealt but I'm glad you finally got him."
His greatest ambition right now is to be forgotten, instead of remembered as the fuckup he was.
You gotta feel sorry for him though because it's pretty unlucky to have two of the biggest disasters in America's history happen during your presidency on top of making shitty decisions
Oh calm down everyone, he has remained out of the public view for other matters as well.
I'm not really concerned over what his motives are for not going, what does it matter, if he were going people would be talking about 'oh now he's just trying to take credit for something he had no hand in doing', blah blah.
Fair enough, at least he is aging gracefully as opposed to some other ex-presidents who start up the whine-o-matic four-thousand every time an interviewer is deluded into listening to them.
[QUOTE=s0beit;29605900]Oh calm down everyone, he has remained out of the public view for other matters as well.
I'm not really concerned over what his motives are for not going, what does it matter, if he were going people would be talking about 'oh now he's just trying to take credit for something he had no hand in doing', blah blah.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't say [i]no[/i] hand in doing it. I'm sure they used at least one bit of intelligence gathered over the past 8 years of Bush's term to help find him. It's not like they just tossed out everything they already knew about Osama when Bush left and started from scratch.
[QUOTE=Meller Yeller;29605844]You gotta feel sorry for him though because it's pretty unlucky to have two of the biggest disasters in America's history happen during your presidency on top of making shitty decisions[/QUOTE]
9/11 and???
[QUOTE=dogmachines;29605593]Bush seems like the kind of person who would be great to know, but just isn't that great of a leader.[/QUOTE]
Hell yeah to this. I'd totally sit down and have a few drinks with him. As for him running this country, he did a piss poor job.
[QUOTE=Ridge;29606028]9/11 and???[/QUOTE]
GFC?
[editline]4th May 2011[/editline]
Which was more the failure of the Fed and a range of economic advisors, but even so.
It's not like presidents are presented with a sheet of paper that says:
Do you want terrorist attacks
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[QUOTE=Contag;29606067]GFC?[/QUOTE]
The Geelong Football Club?
[QUOTE=Ridge;29606028]9/11 and???[/QUOTE]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina[/url]
90.9 Billion in damages, not to mention it pretty much destroyed New Orleans for years.
[QUOTE=OvB;29606102][url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina[/url]
90.9 Billion in damages, not to mention it pretty much destroyed New Orleans for years.[/QUOTE]
Ah yes, a natural disaster which people had several days of warning to get out of the city they built on the coast, below sea level, and protected solely by mounds of dirt.
I wouldn't call Bush a failure specifically, he basically embodied all the failures of our generation of presidents into one hyper-failure.
He did everything wrong every other president did and then some (The Patriot Act and the TSA being on the "then some" list of things i hated, that and looking like a jackass on TV). War on loose grounds, check, economic disaster (it was purely coincidental that he was in office by the way, get used to [url=http://consultingbyrpm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2011.04.02-SP500.png]this happening[/url] every few years or so if our economic policies remain consistently stupid), check.
As for Katrina specifically, to be fair FEMA and misc. organisations should have bore more of the brunt than Bush did. He's the president, he can say things but it isn't like they shouldn't have been doing their jobs in the first place.
[QUOTE=Ridge;29606086]The Geelong Football Club?[/QUOTE]
Global financial crisis
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.