George W. Bush says he wants to try to 'regain anonymity' — at least for now. Bush: 'I don't want to campaign'

Former President George W. Bush has no plans to campaign for fellow Republicans and plans to steer clear of becoming entangled in political debate.

“I don’t want to go out and campaign for candidates,” he said in an interview with C-SPAN airing this weekend. “I don’t want to be viewed as a perpetual money-raiser.”


In 2008, Bush endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to be his successor but largely stayed out of the race.

Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, has been a master campaigner and fundraiser for Democrats since leaving office, backing his wife Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and then stumping for Barack Obama once he became the Democratic Party’s nominee. Clinton appeared on behalf of numerous candidates in the 2010 midterm elections and most recently campaigned for his former aide, Rahm Emanuel, who is running for mayor of Chicago.

Bush also said he has no desire to become a political commentator. “I don’t want to be on these talk shows giving my opinion, second-guessing the current president,” he said. “I think it’s bad for the country, frankly, to have a former president criticize his successor. It’s tough enough to be president as it is without a former president undermining the current president.”

Since leaving the White House in January 2009, Bush has given few interviews — many of which were to promote his memoir, “Decision Points,” which was released last fall. He’s also gone on the lecture circuit, delivering speeches for fees in the tens of thousands of dollars. Even those appearances, though, have been low key and kept somewhat under wraps.

Bush said his decision to sit down with C-SPAN is an anomaly and that he doesn’t want to be on television. “[I]n spite of the fact that I’m now on TV, I don’t want to be on TV.”

Rather, he said, he wants to try to “regain anonymity” — at least for now. Avoiding much media attention, he said, “at least in this stage of the post-presidency is something that makes me very comfortable and its somewhat liberating, frankly.”