Bush: I'd rather be right than popular
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Bush: I'd rather be right than popular
President, wife sit down for wide-ranging birthday interview
Monday, July 10, 2006 Posted: 0204 GMT (1004 HKT)
The first lady and President Bush discuss the challenges of the
presidency with CNN's Larry King.WATCH Browse/Search
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Manage Alerts | What Is This? WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush isn't
troubled by some of the weakest approval ratings of his presidency, he
said Thursday in a wide-ranging birthday interview with CNN's "Larry
King Live."
"When history looks back, I'd rather be judged as solving problems and
being correct, rather than being popular," Bush said.
"The president that chases the opinion poll is the president that will
have failed policy," Bush said in an exclusive joint interview along
with his wife, Laura, at the White House.
Some members of Congress are nervous about the effect Bush's political
problems might have on their own fortunes in this fall's midterm
elections.
But Bush predicted that Republicans would keep their majorities in the
House and Senate, "Because we're right on winning this war on terror,
and we've got a good economic record," he said. "People are working
under the leadership of the Bush administration and the Congress."
When it comes to the most controversial single decision of his
presidency -- invading Iraq -- the president told King he would make
the same choice again, even knowing that Saddam Hussein's regime did
not have weapons of mass destruction.
"We removed a tyrant," Bush said. "He was an enemy of the United States
who harbored terrorists and who had the capacity, at the very minimum,
to make weapons of mass destruction. And he was a true threat."
The president also said he believes recent missile tests by North
Korean leader Kim Jong Il could present an opening to rally
international pressure on the Pyongyang regime.
"I think he wants us to either fear him or pay attention to him. And I
view it as an opportunity ... to get the Chinese and the South Koreans
and the Japanese and Russians to work with us and send a clear message
that this is unacceptable behavior," Bush said.
The president again ruled out the possibility that the United States
would negotiate directly with North Korea over its nuclear program, a
prospect he said Kim would "love."
"I think the best way to solve this problem diplomatically is for there
to be other nations around the table with us so that when he looks out
... he looks at the world."
Bush also told King that if North Korea's missiles had presented a
threat to the United States, "We had a plan in place to respond."
"We've got a missile defense system that will defend our country," he
said without elaborating.
Bush: 'I feel great'
King's interview with the Bushes on Thursday afternoon in the Blue Room
of the White House came on the president's 60th birthday, a milestone
which the president conceded was "dramatic."
"But I feel pretty young. I'm surprised I feel so good," Bush said. "I
can remember when I was a kid looking at people 60. I said, 'Man, there
goes an ancient person.' But I feel great."
Despite more than five years in what has to be one of the world's
toughest jobs, Bush said he does not feel beleaguered by the
presidency.
"Quite the contrary. I feel it is an honor to be in this position," he
said. "I wake up enthused about working on this year's problems because
I've got confidence we can solve them."
Asked how her husband has changed since becoming president in 2001,
Laura Bush said the biggest difference was his gray hair.
"He hasn't really changed that much," she told King. "He has a very
solid, very centered personality. He always has."
Bush addressed several other topics in the interview with King:
· He said he fears another September 11-style terrorist attack. "I
think we're safer, but I'm worried about an enemy that wants to hit us
again."
· The president says he retains a good relationship with Russian
President Vladimir Putin, even though "I don't necessarily agree with
every decision he's made about what's happening inside of Russia."
· Bush refused to say whether he would support an independent
candidacy by Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who is
facing a stiff primary challenge over his support for Bush's Iraq
policy.
"You're trying to get me to give him a political kiss, which may be his
death," Bush told King.
· The president said the federal government is "better prepared today
than we were last year" to deal with another hurricane disaster.
"We've got supplies pre-positioned. We've got a better relationship
with the [National] Guard so that the Guard can move more immediately.
We've got better communications," he said.
· Bush predicted that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will be
captured eventually.
"Oh, we'll get him," he said. "It's just a matter of persistence and
patience."
· The president said he was "really surprised" by the death early
Wednesday of Enron founder Ken Lay, who was a family friend from Texas.
"My hope is that his heart was right with the Lord, and I feel real
sorry for his wife. She's had a rough go, and she's now here on Earth
to bear the burdens of losing her husband, a man she loved."