http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/27/politi...sis/index.html
Bush recently attended a donor and I have no issues with him disagreeing with Obama's policy, but at least President Bush had the class not to sink to new lows and totally berate Obama unlike Cheney has on many interviews. Guys like Whirlaway, I B, DSK, Jd, and gnad perhaps you can learn something from Bush.
Bush in fact opened his remarks by insisting that he would not criticize Obama, Fleischer said, because he didn't want to make Obama's job more difficult by commenting on his policies or lambasting him, a courtesy Bush's vice president has not afforded Obama (Dick Cheney last month called Obama "the worst president of my lifetime").
Two donors who were in the room for Bush's remarks confirmed Fleischer's account and one said Bush noted the importance of being respectful toward the President and remembering that the U.S. only has one President at a time.
But Bush's remarks on Iran, Iraq and ISIS set up a stark contrast to Obama's policies -- an implicit critique.
Bush said the U.S. would lose its leverage to keep Iran from a nuclear weapon if it lifted sanctions, according to Fleischer and several attendees who spoke to CNN. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is currently brokering a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program which would give Iran sanctions relief once it complies with the terms of the deal.
And while Obama has often leaned on the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is considered a moderate in Iran, as signs of change in Iran, but Bush said Rouhani is just a new face, reminding the audience that you can't run for president in Iran without the blessing of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a source in the room.
Bush also dismissed Rouhani as a spokesman for the ayatollah, and he said all power over decision making is the ayatollah's, according to Fleischer.
The closest Bush came to directly criticizing Obama was when he quoted Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's criticism of Obama's decision to pull American troops out of Iraq in late 2011, calling it a "strategic blunder."
Obama completely withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011 without successfully brokering a deal with the Iraqi government to leave a smaller residual force of U.S. troops -- a move that has been criticized as creating a vacuum in Iraq and allowing ISIS to gain ground in northern Iraq more easily.
Bush spokesman Freddy Ford declined to directly comment on Bush's remarks because the event was meant to be off the record.
"The reporting I've seen doesn't particularly match my recollection of what was said," he said.
Bush also discussed the 2016 presidential campaign, which his brother is expected to enter as one of the leading Republican contenders.
He called his brother Jeb Bush capable and qualified, but acknowledged that he and their shared family name would be a liability in the coming contest, Fleischer said.
Bush noted that Americans don't like dynasties and called the "Bush" name a "hurdle" or "burden" Jeb would need to overcome, Fleischer recalled.
And that's why Bush told attendees they won't "see much of me" on the campaign trail, an attendee told CNN.
Bush also commented on the Democratic frontrunner for the nomination, Hillary Clinton, calling her formidable, but "beatable," according to Fleischer and an attendee.