Bush: ‘There Is Life After The White House’

President George Bush
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Former President George W. Bush spoke this afternoon at the unveiling of the Bush Institute at Southern Methodist University — the most public of any appearances he’s made since he left the White House.

“I am pleased to report there is life after the White House,” the former president said. “Laura and I are happy, healthy and home, right here in the promised land.”

Bush said his SMU initiative had three parts — an archive, a museum and a policy institute. Bush said the archive will include four million photos, thousands of documents and “hundreds of millions of emails — not one of ’em mine.”

The archive will be a priceless resource for historians.

The institute itself, for which ground will be broken next year, will focus on global health, human freedom, economic growth and education.

“It is pretty exciting for a 63-year-old to be back on a college campus,” Bush said. “I enjoy popping in on class from time to time. Come to think of it, that was my strategy when I was a student.”

Bush didn’t talk much about his presidency, but did mention last year’s economic crisis and the resulting government intervention.

“I believe in the power of free enterprise, which made the decision I faced last fall one of the most difficult of my presidency,” he said. “It went against my free market instincts.”

Bush also briefly touched upon the Middle East: “I strongly believe women will lead the democracy movement in the Middle East, and they will have an ally in the Bush Institute.”

In other Bush news, the former president has settled on the University of Virginia for his oral history project.

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