Kanye West probably shouldn’t look for an invitation to any of former President George W. Bush’s coming book parties.
Of all the critics who took aim at Mr. Bush in his eight years as president, Mr. West seems to stand out in his memory. In Mr. Bush’s new memoir, “Decision Points,” to be released next week, he recalls with anger and resentment Mr. West’s accusation after Hurricane Katrina that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
In the book, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times on Tuesday, Mr. Bush writes that he was “disgusted” and “deeply insulted” by the accusation, telling his wife, Laura, that it was the lowest moment of his presidency. He expanded on that in an interview with Matt Lauer of NBC News scheduled to be shown Monday.
“I didn’t appreciate it then. I don’t appreciate it now,” Mr. Bush told Mr. Lauer, according to excerpts released by NBC on Tuesday night. “It’s one thing to say, ‘I don’t appreciate the way he’s handled his business.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘This man’s a racist.’ I resent it. It’s not true. And it was one of the most disgusting moments in my presidency.”
The interview with Mr. Lauer will kick off a series of events for Mr. Bush to promote his book and also effectively re-enter the public arena nearly two years after he left the Oval Office. He also plans to go on Oprah Winfrey’s show and will preside over a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 16 for the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas that will serve as a reunion for hundreds of veterans of his administration.
Mr. Bush’s recollections of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath form one of the 14 decisions he analyzes in the book. While rejecting accusations that he did not care enough about the suffering in New Orleans, Mr. Bush acknowledges that he did not respond as effectively as he should have.
“I should have recognized the deficiencies sooner and intervened faster,” he writes. “I prided myself on my ability to make crisp and effective decisions. Yet in the days after Katrina, that didn’t happen. The problem was not that I made the wrong decisions. It was that I took too long to decide.”
He adds: “I made an additional mistake by failing to adequately communicate my concern for the victims of Katrina. This was a problem of perception, not reality. My heart broke at the sight of helpless people trapped on their rooftops waiting to be rescued.”
Mr. Bush regrets the Air Force One fly-over above New Orleans that fed the perception that he was not being personally proactive enough. While he still thinks landing in New Orleans would have been a mistake because it would have diverted resources from ongoing rescue efforts, he says he should have landed at Baton Rouge to make clear how seriously he took the crisis. He recalls how Lyndon B. Johnson flew into New Orleans after a hurricane in 1965 and made his way into a shelter by flashlight calling out, “This is your president! I’m here to help you!” Mr. Bush writes, “Unfortunately, I did not follow his example.”
In his account of the chaotic days following the storm, Mr. Bush pinpoints the failure to send in federal troops sooner. He recalls pressing Gov. Kathleen Blanco repeatedly to let federal troops come into Louisiana but she resisted. So did Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, citing Posse Comitatus, the law prohibiting the use of the military for law enforcement purposes on American soil absent an insurrection.
“That left me in a tough position,” Mr. Bush writes. “If I invoked the Insurrection Act against her wishes, the world would see a male Republican president usurping the authority of a female Democratic governor by declaring an insurrection in a largely African-American city.”
In the South, that “could unleash holy hell,” he adds. “I was as frustrated as I had been at any point in my presidency.”
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