George W. Bush is making his rounds as he promotes his new book, Decision Points.  I think he is reminding people that he is a man of character and one who has a lot of class.

I've watched a couple of his interviews and appreciate the dignity with which he continues to carry himself, and think that (unintentionally) he is showing the difference between someone who understands the prestige of the presidency and someone who doesn't (its current occupant).

In fact, I was talking to a friend who actually voted for Obama in 2008 who said, "There isn't an Obama supporter who is honest with themselves that watches Bush and isn't a little bit embarrassed for our guy [Obama]."

While all of that is nice, Michelle Malkin thinks it's important to remind folks on the right not to get too nostalgic about the former president.  Remembering the class, the dignity, the statesmanship.all that is fine (and good).  But it's important not to forget that his behavior with regard to the economy is what precipitated the rise of the Tea Parties to begin with...

The problem, of course, is that Bush nostalgia is indelibly marred by his disastrous domestic policy legacy of big government, big spending, and betrayal of core fiscal principles ? the very impetus for the Tea Party movement upon which he now heaps glowing praise.

 

Take yourselves back to 2007. The headline on my blog on December 3, 2007:

Hillary and Bush agree: Government should bail out homeowners.

 

Two days later, Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a subprime mortgage bailout .

But that wasn't it:

In January 2008, Bush floated another massive housing entitlement package, followed by an economic stimulus plan in excess of $150 billion, and passage of the $2.7 billion Bush housing boondoggle.

 

...

 

Bush then oversaw the $85 billion bailout of AIG and prepared the $25 billion auto bailout. In October, the Republicans swallowed the Bush crap sandwich and blindly bowed to naked emperor Paulson, and John McCain proposed a $300 billion mortgage bailout that dwarfed Obama's campaign proposal.

 

As he rode into the sunset in December 2008 after pre-socializing the economy for Barack Obama, Bush wrote his own epitaph, which was one of the items on my list of things I don't miss about Bush. 

So be nostalgic in the sense that you miss a president who had a pervasive pride and love of country and a firm grasp on the dignity of his office.  But remember that we must oppose the tyrannical overreach of big-government when it's facilitated by Democrats...and Republicans.