Will Bush repudiate any of his own policies?

by Smitty (via Drudge)

W in the Washington Times:

Delivering a speech on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, future home to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the former president sought to explain his decision to have the federal government intervene at the beginning of the economic downturn last fall.

"I believe in the power of the free enterprise system, which made the decision I faced last fall one of the most difficult of my presidency. I went against my free market instincts and approved a temporary government intervention to unfreeze credit and prevent a global financial catastrophe," he said.

While many economists credit that early action with halting the economic freefall, Mr. Bush said the only answer to returning America to prosperity is to remove government controls on the private sector and continue to force open markets to U.S. goods.

"Trade has been one of the world's most powerful engines of economic growth, and one of the most effective ways to lift people out of poverty. Yet a 60-year movement toward trade liberalization is under threat from creeping protectionism and isolationism," Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush did not cite his successor by name, but many of his warnings seemed directed at policies Mr. Obama has embraced.

President Bush:

If the country doesn't examine the systemic erosion of Federalism that precipitated the collapse, and doesn't follow up that examination with systemic changes designed to reconstitute the 50 States as meaningful centers of political power, then alles macht nichts.

The problem isn't so much the jackasses burning the broth, but the lousy kitchen putting them there. Swapping out this jackass for that constitutes scant improvement.