Prodigal Dubya, Texas Slowly Get Reacquainted

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted May 19, 2009 1:56 PM CDT

(Newser) – Former President Bush is gradually reentering life as a private citizen in Texas, Newsweek reports, but he's doing it gingerly and on his own terms. While many Texans agree that Dubya's still the friendly, aw-shucks guy they sent to Washington eight years ago, he's definitely keeping clear of dissent. “He is in home territory for sure,” a Texas historian said. “He doesn't enjoy naysayers and critics and opposition. Never has. And right now, he needs that nurturing cocoon that he is in.”

That “nurturing cocoon” includes friends and neighbors in his Dallas community, but not Texas’ political class. “It is the name that shall not be spoken,” said a consultant, adding that “it's a different time and a different deal” than the Texas that sent him to the White House in 2000. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a hit at a local school appearance, though his response to a parent urging him to help out with a haunted house was telling: “I'd make a good ghost,” Bush replied.

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Former President George W. Bush throws out the season opening first pitch for the Texas Rangers. (AP Photo)

Former President George W. Bush waves as he arrives in Waco Texas on Inauguration Day. (AP Photo)

Former President George W. Bush arrives at a welcome home rally in Midland, Texas. (AP Photo)

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They turned out 30,000 people here. And that's without giving out food and beer. Most people in Texas, by and large, hold him in high regard because he made a decision and stuck with it. - Accountant Bob McCleskey on Bush's return to Midland

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 5 comments

Snarfeh

May 20, 2009 1:20 AM CDT

Hell, I forgot about Monica until I just read that. What I've been nostalgically remembering about Clinton is the economy and the job market when he was President. I just got laid off by not getting paid and the week I learned this was the week I was supposed to have been paid for the week PRIOR, so that's 2 weeks of pay I'm owed plus the week held back when I was hired. Don't tell ME all that will be remembered about Clinton is Monica! I remember not worrying about losing my job and I remember a bustling economy with unparalleled growth! I remember a debt left by the elder Bush being wiped out by Clinton's economic policies which left a &#@%$#ing SURPLUS for SHRUBYA to spend faster than we could blink on his contracting war profiteering corporate cronies! I remember an EXTRA DIGIT having to be added to the deficit because of SHRUBYA'S (un)economic policies! Thanks to SHRUBYA and his corporate cronies, now all I can think about is whether I can find another job before my states unemployment runs out.

NxBigmouthery

May 19, 2009 11:01 AM CDT

Whadda they mean, get re-acquainted? It was as if he never left.

Forderon

May 19, 2009 9:43 AM CDT

What an ignorant comment. We only have Clinton and his father to compare him to?? Not the other 42 presidents? And the fact that the Lewinsky trial is the most memorable thing about Clinton just shows how good of a president he was? If getting a BJ from an intern and lying about it is his worst moment, then Clinton has quite a bit of work to do to reach Bushian levels of incompetency.

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