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Laura Bush: Bush's Presidency was not a Failure

by Mary Richard | December 29, 2008 at 01:33 am

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Washington - Laura Bush disagrees with critics who call the presidency of George W. Bush a failure.

"I know it's not, and so I don't really feel like I need to respond to people that view it that way," she said in an interview that aired Sunday. "I think history will judge and we'll see later."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took a similar view in a separate interview. "I think generations pretty soon are going to start to thank this president for what he's done. This generation will," she said

"Because I think the fact that we have really made foreign assistance not just an issue of giving humanitarian aid or giving money to poor people, but really insisting on good governance and fighting corruption." she said. "I think the fact that this president has laid the groundwork for a Palestinian state, being the first president, as a matter of policy, to say that there should be one, and now, I think, laying the foundation that's going to lead to that Palestinian state, I can go on and on."

She noted that, while on his watch, the US toppled Saddam Hussein and liberated millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq from oppressive governments. She highlighted his work to provide treatment for AIDS and malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. She said he responded to the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in a way that has kept the country safe.

In her interview, Laura Bush called the shoe-throwing incident in Baghdad an "assault." She said that while the president laughed it off when an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at him during a news conference earlier this month in Iraq, she was not amused. "He wasn't hurt. He's very quick. As you know, he's a natural athlete and ducked it. But on the other hand, it is an assault. And I think it should be treated that way. And I think people should think of it that way."

On the other hand, she said the incident reflects change in Iraq. "As bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves," she said.

Laura spoke on "Fox News Sunday," while Condoleezza Rice was on CBS "Sunday Morning."