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By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer Deb Riechmann, Associated Press
Writer Tue Dec 2, 12:04 am ET
WASHINGTON President George W. Bush expressed remorse that the global
financial crisis has cost jobs and harmed retirement accounts and said he'll
back more government intervention if needed to ease the recession.
"I'm sorry it's happening, of course," Bush said in a wide-ranging interview
with ABC's "World News," which was airing Monday. "Obviously I don't like the
idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other
hand, the American people got to know that we will safeguard the system. I
mean, we're in. And if we need to be in more, we will."
The U.S. economy fell into a recession in December 2007, the National Bureau of
Economic Research reported on Monday. Many economists believe the current
downturn will last until the middle of 2009 and will be the most severe slump
since the 1981-82 recession.
On the war in Iraq, Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was the
"intelligence failure" regarding the extent of the Saddam Hussein threat to the
United States. With the support of Congress, Bush ordered the U.S.-led invasion
of Iraq in March 2003 a decision largely justified on grounds later proved
false that Saddam was building weapons of mass destruction.
Asked if he would have ordered the U.S.-led invasion if intelligence reports
had accurately indicated that Saddam did not have the weapons, Bush replied:
"You know, that's an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can't do.
It's hard for me to speculate."
During a discussion about what Americans should know about what it is like to
be president, Bush was asked what he was most unprepared for going into the
office.
"I think I was unprepared for war," he said. "In other words, I didn't campaign
and say, `Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack.' In other
words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents one of the things about the modern
presidency is that the unexpected will happen."
On the presidential election, Bush called Barack Obama's victory a "repudiation
of Republicans."
"I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me," said Bush, who
leaves office with low approval ratings. "I think most people voted for Barack
Obama because they decided they wanted him to be in their living room for the
next four years explaining policy. In other words, they made a conscious choice
to put him in as president."
As he leaves office, Bush said he felt responsible for the economic downturn
because it's occurring on his watch, but he added: "I think when the history of
this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were
made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so" before he became president.
He said he would like to see "instant liquidity" in the markets given the
extent of the financial rescue plan, yet he understands that fear has paralyzed
the markets.
"It is hard for the average citizen to understand how frozen the system became
and how over-leveraged the system became," Bush said. "And so what we're
watching is the de-leveraging of our financial markets, which is obviously
affecting the growth of the economy."
Last week, the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve pledged $800 billion
to break through blockades on credit cards, auto loans, mortgages and other
borrowing. The latest moves raised U.S. commitments to contain the financial
crisis to nearly $7 trillion though no one thinks the government will
actually spend that much.
The figures include loans that are expected to be repaid, loan authorities to
back mortgages, purchases of stock in banks, guarantees to support loans among
banks and pledges backing other transactions.
"This economy will recover," Bush said in the interview conducted last
Wednesday at the Camp David, Md., presidential retreat. "And when it recovers,
many of the assets backed by the government now will be redeemed, and we will
could conceivably make money off of some of the holdings."
Later in the interview, he said: "I can't guarantee that we'll get all our
money back, but it's conceivable we could."