LOL That's the exact opposite of the consensus of Bush worshipers here on FR. They all say Bush "tried to warn Congress" about the financial sector and here Bush admits he didn't have a clue.
No. He discusses warning Congress about Fannie/Freddie. He simply says he did not see the dramatic collapse that took place in fall 2008.
Ain't that the truth?
The "Bush tried to warn Congress" yarn was spun by Karl Rove near the end of Bush's second term as an attempt to deflect responsibility for Bush's actions that lead directly to the meltdown that occurred in late 2008.
IMO, this meltdown was supposed to have occurred under Oh!Brother's watch so he could take the blame leaving Bush smelling like a rose.
But, the law of unintended consequences was triggered by Bush's Wall Street banker buddies' greed and the real estate bubble inflated too fast and the system reached the bursting point about 6-months to a year too soon.
So, instead of being able to blame Oh!Brother, Bush's team had to go to work inventing another, alternate story line, featuring Bush as the hero, valiantly trying to warn Congress.
Thankfully, we still have all of the "real" historical data points that show exactly what Bush did and when he did it.
The "provides data points for future historians" line means Bush's book is pure propaganda, which also means that Bush's own Josef Goebbels, Karl Rove, probably had a hand in writing it and this shows he's still trying to rehabilitate Bush's reputation.
He should have addressed the immigration issues rather than the Social Security issue when he had political capital from his 2004 re-election victory.
It's funny that he should mention Social Security and 2004. On June 29, 2004, Bush's appointed SS Director signed the Social Security Totalization Agreement with Mexico. Had that aggreement been approved by Congress, it would have allowed Mexican illegal aliens to collect US Social Security benefits for the time they worked illegally in the US.
Bush never sent the agreement to Congress. He was hoping to sneak it in after his "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" was put into place. Once the illegals were put onto the road to citizenship, Bush would be able to fight for them to get US SS benefits because, "Family values don't stop at the Rio Grande." Apparently, neither do US taxpayer dollars.
His Millennial Challenge foreign aid reform encouraging free market development is a clear advance over failed aid policies. And his PEPFAR program combating AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
Hmmm... That's strange. No mention of his Partnership for Prosperity Agreement (with Mexico) nor the New Alliance Task Force. I guess he doesn't want to take credit for sending billions of US taxpayer dollars to Mexico or for helping get tens of millions of Mexican illegal aliens into the US banking system and destroying the US economy in the process.