Check out the full interview here. From CNN, where you can read the full story:
It seems George W. Bush can take a joke — and tell one.
But before the former President sat down with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show late Tuesday, the comedian turned his successor, Barack Obama, into the brunt of his hard jabs.
Leno raked him over the coals over Obamacare.
“Better him than me,” Bush quipped afterward, relieved. He’s happy to be out of line of fire.
“Eight years is plenty,” he said. “I don’t miss the spotlight.”
Bush has largely avoided it since he left the White House in 2009, and Leno couldn’t help but immediately pry into the reason why.
Leno told the 43rd president that he was surprised that he agreed to appear this time. It was Bush’s fourth appearance on the show.
Bush used the opening to land the first shot at the late-night host, who will go off the air next spring after 20 years on the tube.
“You’re about to head out to pasture. Just wanted to see what you look like, before you got to the gate,” he said to laughs.
Then came his serious answer.
“I don’t think it’s good for the country to have a former president criticize his successor,” Bush said.
As he has often in the past, Bush said that history will judge his legacy. But he didn’t appear concerned.
Historians are still preoccupied with George Washington, he said. “If they’re still writing biographies of the first guy, the 43rd guy doesn’t need to worry.”
Leno asked him for some advice to the sitting President on dealing with tough decisions.
“You have to believe in what you’re doing,” he said. Family, faith and a good team helped him deal with the rest, when he was President, Bush said.
