Carr’s Column – Tony Blair on George W. Bush

Tony Blair in A Journey insists George W. Bush is not “a dumb idiot”. Blair argues he was straightforward and direct and very smart.

I have a different view. First it’s got to be stressed George W. Bush is profoundly simple. On the Republican side they recall conversations with a man who would spend close to an hour talking about his new dog.

Second, he has no intellectual curiosity. It’s not just because of the vivid contrast with Clinton. By any test, his is a very closed mind.

Third, he saw the world in absolutes; it was always black and white, good versus evil. Perhaps because – some have suggested – it was a result of his battles with substance abuse and his born-again experience that came out of them.

And a final thought: he sounded as if he was “a dumb idiot” and he made dumb decisions like the decision to invade Iraq because of Al Qaeda’s September 11 attack and to do so without a plan for the country.

Guilty as charged. Next to Woodrow Wilson, he was the worst president in American history.