We now exist at an interesting time in George W. Bush's post-presidency where, compared to his Republican successor, he seems like a regular saint. And Bush—who's much savvier than that tricky White House door would suggest—is taking this opportunity to soften his image. He appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show last night to promote his new book of paintings called Portraits of Courage. During their conversation, Bush did some populist bashing of Donald Trump, and he also talked about presidential impressions.

Bush was an easy guy to make fun of—with the mispronunciations and the squinty eyes and the bobbing head. So there were many impressions of the guy back in the early 2000s. Steve Bridges had a great one, Frank Caliendo did, too, and of course Will Ferrell. Bush says that the impressions never bothered him. His favorite was the late Bridges, who joined Bush a at the White House Correspondents dinner.

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But Ferrell's was certainly the most iconic of these impressions—so much so that many have attributed it to normalizing Bush—a suggestion that even Ferrell himself has admitted. After the ubiquity of Ferrell's dopey, regular guy portrayal, it became easy to conflate that performance with the real guy. Even Bush had trouble separating the actor from reality.

As Bush told Jimmy Kimmel:

I had dinner with Lorne Michaels, the head of Saturday Night Live, and he said, "I put a great speechwriter on you, and he came up with 'strategery.' And I said, "Wait a minute, I said 'strategery?'" And he said, "No, you didn't say 'strategery.' I said, "I damn sure said 'strategery.'" He said, "We invented it." I said, "Well, let me ask you this: Did he come up with 'misunderestimate?'"

Bush is trying. He really is. He's defending the media. He's fawning over Michelle Obama. He's demanding answers for all of Trump's Russian controversy. And this is all good stuff. Bush is selling a book of paintings. He probably should appeal to the left and middle a little bit more to do that.

And while it's great to see him talking shit about Trump, let's not forget a few of Bush's more famous failures like the Great Recession, the Patriot Act, his response to Katrina, and, you know, those wars in the Middle East. No amount of talk shows or likable impressions or portraits will change that.

From: Esquire US