Bush Joins the Ranks of the Unemployed
In 2007, George W. Bush spoke of a desire to “replenish the ol’ coffers” with post-presidential speaking engagements. Daniel Gross has an appealing theory indicating that this won’t work:
For many of President Bush’s critics, the fact that he is now seeking work in the worst job market in a generation is poetic justice. As Bush noted in his farewell press conference, he is too much of a Type A for “the big straw hat and Hawaiian shirt, sitting on some beach.” (He might want to reconsider: Thanks to the recession, tropical resorts are running great promotions.)
Given recent history, Bush probably expects to profit from ex-presidency. Bill Clinton reported income of more than $90 million from 2000-07. But Bush is very unlikely to earn Clintonian numbers. Ex-presidents peddle image, presence, and experience. In Bush’s case, each is tarnished. To aggravate matters, many of the industries in which ex-presidents make easy money are a) doing poorly, and b) based in the Washington-Boston corridor where Bush hostility runs deep.
I think this is probably wrong and at the end of the day Bush’s unpopularity will probably have only a mild negative impact on his future earnings. For one thing, itt’s a mistake to try to generalize about which industries are the ones “in which ex-presidents make easy money.” Bush’s actions in office should have earned him the undying loyalty of the core GOP business base in the oil, coal, pharmaceutical, defense contracting, and agribusiness industries. It’s true that given the recession these firms may not be able to be as generous as they would in other times. But by the same token, their continued profitability depends heavily on their ability to convince today’s politicians that loyal friends of industry will be taken care of. If Bush really wants money, the money will be found.
65 Responses to “Bush Joins the Ranks of the Unemployed”
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January 18th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Not rewarding Bush would send the “wrong” message: that our borders have meaning and that presidents shouldn’t allow billions to flow to connected contractors. So, I’m sure he’ll make out like a bandit one way or another.
Bonus, completely off MattY’s radar link: maybe his amigos would help out.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Can’t we all just chip in a few bucks each to get him to go away? If all 300 million of us just give 3 or 4 dollars, he’s a billionaire.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I think the book deal has far bigger potential than some realize, particularly with the right title – personally, I’m looking forward to reading “If I Did It”.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
This is my business (PR) and I don’t see any possible way for him to turn even a semi-honest living. GHWB was a plausible speaker, Clinton was a plausible speaker. Enriching either of them was a serious way to gain access and reward an ex-patron. Bush the lesser? He’s froze out for years if not forever. All the industries you mention have budgets aimed at trying to ignore that they ever favored GWB and in fact thought he was an asshole the whole time.
Maybe I’m wrong, but in the near term at least I don’t think he gets a job doing anything.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
A job that doesn’t involve a mop, deep fryer, spatula and paper hat is probably too much for him. I wouldn’t even let him near the register.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Consider the number of pop singers, comedians, actors and authors whose stuff turns off vast majorities of the population, yet still earn gazillions. Bush leaves office with an approval rating that averages in the mid-20s. That translates to about 75 million potential customers for his speeches, books, etc., plus who knows how many others among the morbidly curious.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Well, he’s still popular in Utah (more than half approval ratings)
And he sure still has an audience in good ‘ole Texas
January 18th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
On the next season of Dancing with the Stars!!!
January 18th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
K-Lo:
K-Lo, Part II:
So there you go. K-Lo seems to think that Dubya should be a teacher or Jesus’ biological father.
If K-Lo did not exist, we would have to invent her.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
BROMANCE!
Bush is a “regular guy”, right? He’s perfect.
January 18th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
“It’s true that given the recession these firms may not be able to be as generous as they would in other times. But by the same token, their continued profitability depends heavily on their ability to convince today’s politicians that loyal friends of industry will be taken care of.”
But the Democrats are in charge – certainly attempts for these industries to buy further favors are eliminated, right?
January 18th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Re LFoD’s comment “But the Democrats are in charge – certainly attempts for these industries to buy further favors are eliminated, right? ”
————–
A blinding display of unbridled sarcasm. I like that in a post.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I think that there are still enough people who love Dubya that he will find someone who will pay to listen to him. I’m sure that Hugh Hewitt would pay to hear him speak.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Bush’s approval ratings in the GOP are still up near 80%. he’ll do fine preaching to the choir.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Maybe we should stop pretending that Bush is someone who actually needs a job. He’s a 62 year old wealthy man and he’ll get a federal pension of about $200,000 a year for life (plus adjustments for inflation).
In other words, Bush will earn more in retirement than 97% of all Americans who actually show up to work every day.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I love this idea that Bush isn’t going to just sit around on a beach somewhere, because he’s a “type A” personality.
This from a guy who spent more time on vacation, by an incredibly large factor (and an embarrassing amount of time for anyone in any industry), than any other president in history.
And of course, Bush also confuses being an asshole with being a Type A personality. Bush is clearly the former, but hardly the latter.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
…I should add, I think Bush is, at best, a Type C+ personality…
January 18th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Bush does have a natural talent for malapropisms, plus a large body of work of this genre built up over the past eight years on which he could draw. I haven’t seen Norm Crosby on TV lately. Perhaps there is an opening there for Mr. Bush.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Wingnut welfare is the gift that keeps giving to gits. I don’t see that changing.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
I thought W. was rich as Croesus even before he ran for POTUS.
January 18th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Aside from my opinion of Bush personally or polirically, I just can’t comprehend the mindset of the already fantastically wealthy Bush. Reading of his desire to cash in on the Presidency–not to be active doing good works, or advocating for favored policies, but to make money–I was reminded of this wonderful exchange from the neo-noir classic Chinatown between Jack Nicholson’s Jake Gittes and John Huston’s Noah Cross, the wealthy villain of the piece:
Jake Gittes: How much are you worth?
Noah Cross: I have no idea. How much do you want?
Jake Gittes: I just wanna know what you’re worth. More than 10 million?
Noah Cross: Oh my, yes!
Jake Gittes: Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What could you buy that you can’t already afford?
January 18th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Type A personality … hahahahha.
Shrub has spent 490 days in Crawford, 487 days at Camp David, and 39 day at Kennebunkport. That is a total of 1,016 days in his 8 years in office (35% of the time). Granted some of these were weekends so they don’t technically count as vacation. Bush took an average of 63 vacation days a year over the course of his 8 years in office. For a guy who decries European socialism he sure does like those 9 weeks of vacation each year!
BTW, In 2001, he told reporters, “I know a lot of you wish you were in the East Coast, lounging on the beaches, sucking in the salt air. But when you’re from Texas—and love Texas—this is where you come home. It’ll be the house where I live in for the rest of my life. I like my own home, and I don’t mind the heat.”
January 18th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I’m sure his dad can get him a job at the Illuminati- I mean the Carlyle Group
January 18th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I wouldn’t worry about President Bush’s earning potential. It’s a big country and an even bigger world out there, and there are plenty of people who appreciate what President Bush did (or tried to do) in office. Didn’t Indian PM Singh tell President Bush that “India loves you”? Even if that’s only half-true, that’s about 600 million people right there.
January 18th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Without going too far into tin foil hat territory I think it is fair to talk about the Bush Family Fortune. I believe Pappy is extraordinarily rich. How could he not be. In on the ground floor of Gulf of Mexico offshore oil. Since his chairmanship of the GOP able to get in on can’t miss deals among the elites. CIA and first in China are positions he has held and it is hardly a secret that his whole style is based upon interlocking self interested parties. Personal friend of the Saudi Royals. Blackstone Group principal, that being the semiofficial capital arm of the permanent government and arms dealer extrodinare. Shill for Rev Moon and friend of dictators everywhere. Heir to his dads not inconsiderable fortune.
It’s been said, perhaps by paranoids, that the wealth is hidden in layer upon layer of interlocking corporate structures. Yes Pappy is still vertical and no matter the extent of the wealth, 10 figures or 12 that doesn’t mean W is going to ever see much of it directly. Still his need for money is essentially zero. Except for his ego.
Clinton’s cashing in and influence peddling are an atrocity.
January 18th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
No human being is beyond redemption–or so some people think. If Bush were to give away all his worldly goods and devote the rest of his life to caring for lepers as part of a religious order that imposes a vow of poverty on its members, just possibly…
January 18th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Bwahahahaha!!! That is too funny. The guy who spent 40% of his presidency on vacation is too much of a hard worker to sit around idly, huh? Okay, if you say so.
January 18th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
You are all underestimating the sheer money-making power of celebrity. People pay large amounts of money to be in the same room with somebody they saw on TV.
January 18th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Can’t we all just chip in a few bucks each to get him to go away?
I’ve already promised several dollars worth of reimbursement for his flight to The Hague.
***********
41 became after his departure a gun dealer. Clinton, not hearing much complaint, became a similar whore.
January 18th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
There is nothing in recent American politics to indicate that Bush will do anything but handsomely. I can’t even think of an argument for G.W. not cashing in with glee. And getting paid.
January 18th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
GHW’s being in the arms dealing business via Blackstone is one of the most shameful and despicable acts of any former president of the US or really of any leader of any democratic or ‘advanced’ nation on earth. That a national leader would even think to profit from the sale of arms would simply be impossible to conceive in modern history of democratic government prior to Bush’s entre.
From unthinkable to not worth mentioning in a few short years demonstrates how debased our political culture has become. You don’t have to be a pacifist to understand how distateful it is for an extremely wealthy ex president to profit from war or rumor of war. Well one didn’t used to have to be a pacifist to understand. Now nobody understands.
January 18th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Bush was a wealthy man — not super rich, but rich — before he got to Washington, so he doesn’t have to go around literally with hat in hand. There are any number of groups, organizations, or even corporations out there that would think it’s cool to have Bush be on their board or speak at their annual meeting or give a talk on leadership at an executive retreat. Problem is, these are probably going to be limited to 1. evangelical non-profits (like Rick Warren’s AIDS charity, or something) 2. conservative think tanks or orgs, or 3. privately held companies in conservative areas of Texas or Utah whose profile or shareholders won’t suffer by having Bush appear at their event. That’s small potatoes; Outfits like the NRA would love to have Bush, but probably won’t pay six figures for him to appear and other nonprofits may even ask him to donate his fee. That leaves out — as Gross notes — the cash cows: the huge multinational consulting firms; Wall Street; plus all the sweet European and Asian gigs that pay $250,000 a pop and up for an ex-president.
Bush will have a decent income stream, but especially if he has to keep a team of lawyers on hand in the coming years to deflect investigations, take depositions, etc., he’s going to burn through the couple of grand he got to show up at AEI’s annual Milton Friedman memorial dinner or whatever pretty damn fast.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Bush will join the Carlyle Group or some other fascist heavy hitter “corporation” laden with ex-politicos like James Baker and his father and make a ton of money every year sucking the Saudi Arabian dick like his father does.
He’ll be asked to make speeches, but that won’t be his prime money maker.
Even if he never takes in another dime, he’ll be richer than anybody here.
It’s not like he has to take up PC tech support for a living…
January 19th, 2009 at 3:04 am
Look how much money Dan Rather makes on the lecture circuit, who similarly left his job under a cloud, but rakes in big bucks because people want to be in the same room (even if it’s a 3000 seat auditorium) with a guy they saw on TV over and over again.
January 19th, 2009 at 4:16 am
I bet for some Bacardi and an eight ball, he’ll happily sink into oblivion.
The Palins should hook him up.
January 19th, 2009 at 7:42 am
All of you seem to be forgetting that speaking fees is the bribes that these industrys pay to presidents. 100k for a speech are you kidding me! This is money that doesnt go into the reelection coffers or is regulated by campaign finance law. This is the delayed payment for a job well done.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Re drowning in a sea of red’s comment “All of you seem to be forgetting that speaking fees is the bribes that these industrys pay to presidents”
————-
Yep. Plus book sales. Does anyone think that real people buy all that conservative dreck?
It’s money laundering, in my opinion.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Does anyone think the average conservative supporter even reads books, much less pay $25 for one?
January 19th, 2009 at 10:11 am
He’s moving to Dallas, however. So, he actually does need to have a certain level of income if he wants to be part of the bubble’s social scene. I’m not even sure what you call the upper class in Dallas; we usually just say they live in the bubble–the Park Cities. At any rate, money matters for this group. It effect everything to what charity events you attend to the shops you frequent and where you live. He chose a place that will partially over look his politics–Dallas county went for Obama–but won’t overlook a lack of the right status symbols. Plus, he’s got to watch over his library, if to only make sure it actually gets built with uber controls over his papers intact. Is he still going ahead with the think tank?
January 19th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Halliburton is looking for truck drivers.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Would you really trust him to drive a truck?
It was reported that other board members asked him to quit the board at one of the oil companies he ruined. They said there was some level of effort required of a board member that he didn’t put in. I think that means that he was actively disrupting their meetings, because otherwise I can’t see how that would be possible.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:33 am
$400,000 POTUS pension . . . Free private jet transport . . . His old man is likely worth North of $1 Billion. . . Saudis; Neo-Cons; Evangelicals and just good old boys will ante up whatever GWB asks for. . .
It is America . . . A sucker born every minute.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
PJ media would probably pay Bush to blog. or NRO could use him in a special fund raiser. And then there always ‘The guy you would want to have a beer with’ really will have a beer with you, for a $500 contribution.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
George and Laura could both make wonderful fortunes on their memoirs if they would talk about George’s drinking, drug use, and promiscuity. Extra points if Laura talks about killing her high school classmate by running a stop sign, and if she clears up whether she had been drinking.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
There is no doubt that in 1963 Laura Bush (nee Welch) killed a 17 year old boy named Michael Douglas. The only question is was it an accident, or was it murder, because Michael had recently broken up with young Laura.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/laura.asp
January 19th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
There must be an Oil giant somewhere that has benefited from Bush foreign policy that can offer him a place making coffee or something.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:58 am
No worries for W.
Once again, he will walk away from fiasco without a scratch, without a clue and without having to bear any consequences for his ignorance.
He doesn’t get it now and he never will get it ’til the day he expires.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Said another way, we in the Northeast hate Bush but there are plenty of hicks with oil money that will pay him a million bucks to come speak at some luncheon in Tulsa.
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