Description: George W. Bush and Henry V present a striking parallel.

Question: What is the legacy of George W. Bush?

Transcript: As a great disappointment

Question: Is there anything favorable?

Transcript: I’m trying to be generous and kind on this. Yes. The immediate aftermath of 9/11, he did a good job. And going into Afghanistan, I think he did a very good job. He waited enough ‘til there was an infrastructure there and the U.S. military approach. And he really kept tabs on it. And he explained it well to the American people, got the international community involved. We now have NATO now involved in Afghanistan. So I think he did a very good job on something like that. And then with Iraq, he did . . . I thought he was very brave going into Iraq. And I do think that Clinton would have done the same thing in that situation. But of course, you know, Clinton doesn’t say that now. But I do believe that after 9/11, almost any president would have done that. But I think that he will be seen as – even though he had an MBA – Masters of Business Administration from Harvard – as the least capable business administrator in the presidency. Lincoln had never ran anything. He had a two-man law firm, okay, with Herndon. Never ran an office, never did anything. He proved to be an executive that was exceptional as an executive. Here we have a president who has a Harvard MBA, and he can’t keep people accountable. He can’t appoint good people. He can’t hold them to accountability. He can’t fire them if they totally mess up. And to me, it’s inexcusable.

Question: In what way is George W. Bush like Henry V?

Transcript: Well Henry V’s father, Henry IV, was ruling the land while the kid was drinking too much, cavorting in the bars and everything like that. And so the analogy with George Herbert Walker Bush, or George W. Bush was drinking too much, cavorting in bars, horsing around like crazy, fit very well. Both young Prince Al and George W. Bush became president in a very disputed kind of way. Here we had the Florida chads. And then the two of them got into war that is still highly controversial and is being debated all these years later. So the analogy fits very well.

We were invited to a small dinner at the White House years ago for Shakespeare’s birthday. And it was a great event. I was called one day and just answered the phone. “Hi. I’m Social Secretary of the White House. The President and Mrs. Bush would like to have you at a small dinner in 10 days’ time. Can you make it?” And I said, “Well let me check the calendar.” And the Social Secretary said, “No one’s ever said that to me before.” And so I said, “Well you’re in luck. We can do it.” So we went there, and then I talked to the . . . I was talking to Tom Wolf, who was a great, great writer. And ______ president came up to us and told Tom Wolf he was just reading his book. And so we chatted about that. And then I mentioned Shakespeare, and I said to the president that there is a lot of analogies between him and Henry V. And he was very nice about it, but I got the idea that he had no idea what I was ever talking about. And I was not anxious to do the analogy because it’s not terribly flattering.

Recorded on: 7/2/07