If anyone had an excuse for wanting to vanish in January 2009, it was George W. Bush: his approval ratings in the 30s, his hair graying, his legacy of two long wars and a fractious tenure wiped away by the election of a charismatic young president promising to fix all the messes left behind.

Then, as the months wore on, Bush’s absence started to grow curious. Questions arose related to his time in office — about the use of torture, or whether the war in Afghanistan had been mishandled, or whether the surge in Iraq had worked — and Bush was nowhere to be found, even as other Bush administration figures, notably Vice President Cheney, happily weighed in. Other ex-presidents stepped into the public fray; his own daughter Barbara spoke about the health-care debate on television.

Additional Photos

Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey interviews former President George W. Bush during taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” at Harpo Studios in Chicago on Oct. 28. During the show, which will air nationally Tuesday, Bush avoided commenting on Sarah Palin’s prospects in 2012. “I - I have no clue,” he told Winfrey. The Associated Press

Not Bush. He lapsed into almost complete public silence, apart from paid speeches (at up to $150,000 a pop). His most prominent appearance of late has been at the World Series, looking downcast in the stands as the Texas Rangers flailed.

Now, for the first time in nearly two years, the 43rd president is about to re-emerge — in better physical shape than ever, his friends say — to promote his book, “Decision Points,” due out today. He is granting a number of high-impact interviews, including with Matt Lauer on NBC, Oprah Winfrey, and Candy Crowley on CNN.

His former aides said he is reappearing as part of the normal process of selling the book — for which he received a hefty advance — not because he misses the limelight. Former senior adviser Karl Rove, asked whether Bush has been itching to defend his presidency, replied, “No.”

“He has an abiding confidence in how this process will roll out,” said Rove, who talks to Bush every week or so. “At the White House, I’d be steamed up about something, and he’d say, ‘Listen, history will get it right, we’ll both be dead, who cares?’ He has been happy there were other voices out there who’d get into the fight, whether it was the vice president going out and setting the record straight,” or other defenders.

Still, Bush, 64, has the opportunity to shape perceptions of his presidency with the book, an unconventional memoir divided into chapters about major decisions in his life. He began it the day after he returned to Texas, friends said, drafting much of it himself before collaborating with his former White House speechwriter Christopher Michel, 28. The two worked together at an office in Dallas, near the home that Bush and his wife, Laura, purchased, and at the Crawford ranch where they still spend many weekends.

The release was timed to follow the midterm elections, in part so Bush could avoid weighing in on the candidates during his promotional tour. Yet Tuesday’s outcome hands him a happy coincidence. Republicans are back in demand, having gotten, in the words of Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., a “second chance.”

Whether that second chance extends to Bush is another question. His approval rating is still low; 55 percent of Americans disapproved of him as of October, according to an Associated Press poll, and more people continue to blame him for the current economic crisis than blame President Obama.

That may not matter for Bush’s book sales, however, and his strategy of silence ensured the details that have already begun to leak are all the more tantalizing. Among the revelations: He contemplated replacing Cheney with Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., on the 2004 ticket. He elaborates on his most embarrassing moments before he quit drinking, recounting the time he drunkenly asked a woman at a dinner party what sex is like after age 50.

The worst moment of his presidency, he said, was hearing that rapper Kanye West had said Bush “doesn’t care about black people” after his handling of Hurricane Katrina.

“He called me a racist,” Bush told Lauer in the interview due to air today. “And I didn’t appreciate it then. I don’t appreciate it now. 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.”

Lauer pressed him on whether the worst moment of his presidency shouldn’t have been the hurricane itself, rather than the insult.

“I also make it clear that the misery in Louisiana affected me deeply as well. There’s a lot of tough moments in the book. And it was a disgusting moment, pure and simple,” Bush said.

Two years after leaving office, Bush seems to have settled into a routine of exercise, speeches and local events that matches what he always said he aspired to post-presidency. More recently, he met veterans and invited mothers who lost children at war to his home in Dallas. He will soon participate in the groundbreaking for his new library and institute at Southern Methodist University.

His approach seems the polar opposite of his predecessor, Bill Clinton – who left office with not only higher approval ratings but also a still-strong appetite for public engagement. Clinton opened his Harlem office in July 2001, and by October 2002 was warning that a preemptive strike against Saddam Hussein might bring unwelcome consequences.

Instead, Bush is more like his father: open to humanitarian work but otherwise satisfied to be at home, mountain-biking and visiting with friends.

“He always told me when he was no longer president he would get off the stage,” former press secretary Dana Perino said. “He does not seek the klieg lights. It does not give him energy the way it does some other politicians. He feels he weighed in on enough controversial decisions, and the current president has enough on his plate and doesn’t need a former president making comments.”

In his “Oprah Winfrey Show” interview, scheduled to air Tuesday, he was prodded to weigh in on Sarah Palin’s prospects in 2012. He replied: “You know, I am not a political pundit. I’m really not. And secondly, a lot is gonna happen between now and the nominating process. I — I have no clue.”

Winfrey nudged him again. “I’m not asking you to pundit.”

“Yeah, you are,” Bush said. “You’re asking me to wade back into the swamp.”

– Research director Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.

Related Stories