2008-12-29 10:08:25
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer Jesse J. Holland, Associated Press
Writer Sun Dec 28, 8:21 pm ET
WASHINGTON The two most influential women in President George W. Bush's White
House first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are
strongly defending the president's legacy against critics who are calling his
administration one of the worst in history.
"I know it's not, and so I don't really feel like I need to respond to people
that view it that way," Mrs. Bush said in an interview that aired Sunday. "I
think history will judge and we'll see later."
Rice took a similar view in a separate interview, saying that claims that the
Bush administration has been one of the worst ever are "ridiculous."
"I think generations pretty soon are going to start to thank this president for
what he's done. This generation will," Rice said.
"Because I think the fact that we have really made foreign assistance not just
an issue of giving humanitarian aid or giving money to poor people, but really
insisting on good governance and fighting corruption," she said. "I think the
fact that this president has laid the groundwork for a Palestinian state, being
the first president, as a matter of policy, to say that there should be one,
and now, I think, laying the foundation that's going to lead to that
Palestinian state I can go on and on."
In her interview, Mrs. Bush called the shoe-throwing incident in Baghdad an
"assault." She rebuffed Bush administration critics who contend the U.S. turned
its military might and resources to the war in Iraq before finishing the job in
Afghanistan.
Mrs. Bush noted that under her husband's watch, the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein
and liberated millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq from oppressive
governments. She also highlighted the president's work to provide treatment for
disease like AIDS and malaria to millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. She
said her husband responded to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a way that has
kept the nation safe.
"I think that's very, very important," she said.
Mrs. Bush said that while the president laughed it off when an Iraqi reporter
threw his shoes at him during a news conference earlier this month in Iraq, she
was not amused. The president deftly dodged the shoes and wasn't hit. He
continued the news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after
security officials dragged the journalist from the room.
"The president laughed it off," she said. "He wasn't hurt. He's very quick. As
you know, he's a natural athlete and ducked it. But on the other hand, it is an
assault. And I think it should be treated that way. And I think people should
think of it that way."
On the other hand, she said the incident reflects change in Iraq.
"As bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot
freer to express themselves," she said.
Mrs. Bush challenged critics who contend that Iraq was a distraction the U.S.
mission in Afghanistan where heightened violence is causing renewed
instability.
"Well, I don't know that I would agree with that at all," Mrs. Bush said. "I
don't think that's true at all. We've stayed very, very invested in
Afghanistan. Not as invested militarily, maybe, and maybe that's what the
critics say, that it should have been more military. But I think we stayed very
invested."
Rice said it won't be long before Bush's contributions to the world will be
acknowledged.
"When you look at what this president took on in terms of AIDS relief and
foreign assistance to the world, when you look at the number of countries ...
and the number of people that this president has actually liberated you know,
I really am someone who believes that you don't want to pay too much attention
to today's headlines," she said.
But recognition of big achievements sometimes take a long time, Rice said.
Rice noted that while Germany was reunified in 1990, the work that made it
possible was done in the 1940s, "when things didn't look quite so rosy." So
historians who are now making judgments about the Bush administration and its
Middle East policies aren't very good historians, Rice said.
"One cannot yet judge the effects of decisions that this president has taken on
what the Middle East will become," Rice said. "I mean, for goodness' sakes,
good historians are still writing books about George Washington."
Mrs. Bush spoke on "Fox News Sunday," while Rice was on CBS "Sunday Morning."