US President George W. Bush is no fan of reflecting on his presidency while it's still taking place. But he's loosening up a bit.
Perhaps not surprisingly, he gives himself good grades.
The White House on Thursday released the transcript of an interview Bush did last week with a reporter from the France 3 television network.
The first question: How does Bush judge Bush? "Well, you know, I think that people will say he's a decisive person who took action when necessary to protect his country and to address the problems of the world," Bush said.
When asked to name his bad points, he faulted himself for using rhetoric that was "misunderstood", like saying after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." That phrase sent signals that could be easily misinterpreted, Bush said.
Bush added: "I think people will say that he was tough when he needed to be tough, and compassionate when he needed to be compassionate, because our agenda was not only dealing with terror."
He said his administration had aimed to free people "not only from forms of tyranny, but from diseases like HIV/Aids or malaria or hunger, and the United States is proudly in the lead on these issues".
