George W. Bush said on Tuesday that his upcoming book begins with an anecdote about his wife persuading him to give up drinking by pushing him to decide whether he preferred booze to fatherhood.
Mr Bush said Decision Points, due for release in November, opens with the scene and him questioning whether he loved booze more than his wife, Laura. He said he realised he had an addictive personality and quit drinking cold turkey. That act set him on the path to the presidency, Mr Bush said in his address to a wind energy convention in central Dallas.
Mr Bush said the book is less autobiography and more an analysis of key decisions in his life, both before and after he was elected President. Topics will include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the troop surge in Iraq, his responses to terrorists attacks and Hurricane Katrina and the financial meltdown. Mr Bush said he hopes the book will be a tool for historians evaluating his presidency.
“I don’t think you can come to a definitive conclusion about a presidency until the passage of time,” Mr Bush said. “I want to put you in my position.” Mr Bush, who left office in January 2009 and moved with his wife to Dallas, appeared relaxed and in good humour throughout the speech.
The 63-year-old riffed on retirement, joking that he was playing shuffleboard after the speech and that his domestic agenda now consists of taking out the trash and doing the dishes. He also joked about the comedown of post-presidential life, saying he realised how different his life was when he was walking his dog Barney through his new neighbourhood in Dallas.
“There I was,” Mr Bush said. “Former President of the United States, with a plastic bag in my hand, picking up what I had been dodging for eight solid years.”