Two former US Presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton came together on a stage in Washington on Monday, 8 September. and flattered each other's acts when they were in office and shared several comments in a lighter tone.
Presently, while Bush is involved in his art painting and writing, Clinton is engaged with his charity work of Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Sharing his experiences in the presidential office, Clinton commented on Bush: "I actually learned a lot watching him over the years," The New York Times quoted.
When his turn came, Bush complemented Clinton: "He's an awesome communicator. He can really lay out a case and get people all across the political spectrum to listen." And here its worth mentioning that Clinton defeated Bush's father in 1992 presidential election.
In a lighter vein, Bush advised Clinton to spend lot of time with his grandchild to be born to his only daughter Chelsea, who announced her pregnancy last April.
"Be prepared to fall completely in love again. And I'm looking forward to talking to you after that child is born. And we all wish the very best for Chelsea. ... It's going to be an awesome period for you," Politico quoted Bush.
The lecture of the two former presidents was organised at the Newseum in Washington, while a potential candidate for 2016 presidential election and Clinton's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, watched them from the audience.
The two ex-presidents introduced a joint programme aimed at training youth via their presidential libraries and even libraries of elder George Bush (father of George W Bush) and Lyndon B Johnson.
The programme is to begin its training classes in next February. The classes are aimed to train students at each of the presidential libraries with speeches from scholars from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas A&M University in College Station, and the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas and other varsities.
The two leaders' discussion was a light-hearted reminder of how much can change in politics after a president leaves office. Bush is leading a quiet life in Texas with a lot of painting and writing work. On that occasion, he promoted his next book written about his father, George Herbert Walker Bush, the oldest living former president. He called the work as a "love story."
However the two former US presidents maintained decorum by not mentioning the rule of current President Barack Obama and the developments pertaining to ISIS.
Bush and Clinton spoke about what they learned during their tenure in White House and how it matters to future leaders. Clinton said that though he did not always agree with Bush's decisions, he observed and tried to approach them with clarity, decisiveness and great admiration.
Clinton said he and Bush "talked about everything in the right world. He asked my opinion, half the time he disagreed with it. But I felt good about that, I thought that was a really healthy thing," CNN quoted
Both the former US presidents utilised the forum for mutual admiration. Touching upon several lighter matters. They laughed and shook hands heartfully, endearing themselves to the bipartisan crowd at the event.
