George
W. Bush, Bill Clinton trade insights, quips on presidential race
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[July 10, 2015]
By Jon Herskovitz
(Reuters) - Former U.S. presidents George
W. Bush and Bill Clinton shared a stage in Texas on Thursday to exchange
quips and insights on leadership and hopes for an elevated tenor in the
current presidential campaign in which their family members are running.
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The two, who have become friends in retirement, told the
graduation of the inaugural class of the Presidential Leadership
Scholars program that failure is a part of life and to keep their
ambition burning so that they can make a difference.
When it came to the presidential race in which Bush's brother Jeb is
running on the Republican side and Clinton's wife, Hillary, for the
Democrats, the former presidents said they wanted to see a
substantive discussion of the issues facing the country and less
focus on political gamesmanship.
"I know Jeb and I am confident that Secretary Hillary will elevate
the discourse," Bush told the audience at his presidential center in
Dallas.
"I can’t attest to their surrogates. I can attest to this surrogate.
I am not going to be a surrogate," he said.
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"The American people expect (there) to be some sharp elbows in a
campaign. What really discourages them post-campaign is the
inability to govern in a way that is congenial," Bush said.
Clinton added he wanted to see frequent debates that allowed voters
to see how the candidates would shape policy to tackle complicated
issues.
"So much in the media today is this culture of anger and resentment.
We have to rise above anger to answers, to rise above resentment to
a real response," he said.
Clinton also told the audience "the world belongs to tomorrow, not
yesterday. "Someday, for all of us, it will be our last day. What
will matter will be all the steps we took along the way and what
they amounted to," he said.
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Bush responded: "I was stuck on that 'some day may be your last day'
line. That was pretty damned profound."
Bush talked about the need to avoid the trappings of power and
create an environment around leadership where "sycophants are not
allowed in," adding Clinton told him to use big words.
Clinton replied that he did not know any big words, except perhaps
"itinerant portrait artist," apparently referring to Bush's hobby of
painting portraits since retirement.
The Presidential Leadership Scholars program is a partnership among
the Bush, Clinton, Lyndon Johnson and George H.W. Bush presidential
centers.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Eric
Beech)
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