Former President George W. Bush dismissed a line from the New York Times review of his book that said he is no longer trying to measure up to his father, but is trying to get rid of "whatever baggage has been there for so long."
"It's typical psychobabble of somebody who has no clue what he's talking about," Bush said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN's
"State of the Union."
Bush told host Candy Crowley he has never felt a "need to compete" with his father. He is glad only that the book came out while former President George H.W. Bush and many of his friends are still alive to read it.
"41: A Portrait of My Father" debuted No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List. Bush admitted he never expected anything he did to be No. 1 on anything associated with the paper, adding, "and neither did The New York Times."
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Bush admitted it is "weird" that although the Bush family is close they rarely talk about the "family business" of politics.
Even he and his father, a rare father-and-son who have served as president, talk little about it, he said.
"We talk about circumstances, or we talk about incidents, but I don't remember ever sitting down hashing through an analysis on why we developed our philosophies the way that we did or comparing our philosophies," Bush said. "Now, if I had ever wanted advice, of course, he was always there."
Though Bush's grandfather publicly dressed down Nelson Rockefeller for divorcing and marrying a younger woman, Bush said he really doesn't know what his father thinks about current society, including gay marriage, because he doesn't talk much about politics.
At age 90, "He's said all he wants to say," Bush said.
Bush has described former Democratic President Bill Clinton as his "brother from another mother" after George H.W. Bush and Clinton became friends after Bush appointed them to team up on disaster relief and other efforts.
Crowley asked what that made Clinton's wife Hillary.
"My sister-in-law," Bush said.
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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is considered the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, and Bush's brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is polling first among Republicans should he decide to run.
Does Bush think his brother could run against his "sister-in-law"?
"Yeah, and I think he'd beat her," Bush said.
Bush admitted that he doesn't know himself whether his brother will run, but thinks he should. He said Jeb neither fears success nor failure, which is an important part of the decision-making process.
"Only he can make the decision, and pushing it doesn't help," Bush said. "He knows I want him to run. If I need to reiterate it I will: Run, Jeb."
Jeb Bush's recent comment that he would be willing to lose primaries to win the nomination was interpreted by some that he won't be swayed to move to the right to lure the base. George W. Bush said his brother is a "compassionate conservative," just like he was, and that includes his stance on immigration.
Jeb's position on immigration is "reasonable and important," Bush said.
On other issues, Bush said:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin sees his relationship to the West as a zero-sum game in that if the West wins he loses and vice versa as opposed to seeing how he and West can work together.
- President Barack Obama has laid out a good goal to degrade and defeat ISIS. He seems to have adjusted his plan to achieve that goal, and only time will tell if it succeeds.
Bush said if the Senate Intelligence report on torture by the CIA during his term diminishes the agency's contributions "it is way off base," adding that members of the agency are "patriots."
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