Bush: Some voted for Obama ‘because of me’

Calling the 2008 elections a “repudiation of
Republicans,” President Bush shouldered at least some of the blame for his
party’s poor results in November.

“I’m sure some people voted for [President-elect] Barack
Obama because of me,” the outgoing president said.

{mosads}Though he has long refused to play political pundit, Bush
said Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) would have had a difficult time winning the
presidency thanks to disastrous economic conditions, though he deflected total
blame for the outcome.

“Obviously the economic situation made it awfully
difficult for John McCain to get a message out,” Bush said in an interview with
ABC News. “And I felt that Barack Obama ran a very disciplined campaign. I
mean, he inspired a lot of people and was in a position to take advantage of
the inspiration. It was well-organized, he raised a lot of money, and ran a
textbook campaign.”

Looking back on his own administration, Bush says the
intelligence failure leading up to the war in Iraq is among his biggest regrets
during his eight-year tenure in the White House.

“A lot of people put their reputations on the line and
said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It
wasn’t just people in my administration; a lot of members in Congress, prior to
my arrival in Washington, D.C., during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of
nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence,” Bush said in
the interview. “I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess.”

Still, the outgoing president insisted that war with Iraq
was inevitable, given Saddam Hussein’s unwillingness to allow inspectors into
the country in compliance with numerous United Nations resolutions. Bush
refused to speculate as to whether the country would have gone to war if Iraq
proved it had no weapons of mass destruction.

“That is a do-over that I can’t do,” Bush said.

The president also expressed disappointment that his
efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform fell short.

“I firmly believe that the immigration debate really
didn’t show the true nature of America as a welcoming society,” Bush said of
the harsh rhetoric that raged on Capitol Hill before the 2006 elections. “I
fully understand we need to enforce law and enforce borders. But the debate
took on a tone that undermined the true greatness of America, which is that we
welcome people who want to work hard and support their families.”

Political analysts see those debates as a catalyst in
moving Hispanic votes away from the Republican Party. In 2004, Bush won 44
percent of the Hispanic vote, while John McCain won just 31 percent of the
Hispanic vote this year, according to national exit polls.

Bush’s promise to restore civility to Washington fell
short as well, he admitted, and the city has become more divided during his
eight years in office. “I didn’t go into this naively; I knew it would be
tough. But I also knew that the president has the responsibility to try to elevate
the tone,” Bush stated. “And, frankly, it just didn’t work as well as
I’d like to have it work.”