George Bush a Big Hit at Saddleback Civil Forum

I have some friends that attended this event and I wish I could have gone:

LAKE FOREST In a jovial banter, former President George W. Bush and pastor Rick Warren talked about leadership principles and how those led to some of the pivotal decisions Bush made during his presidency.

The conversation with the nation's 43rd president took place in front of thousands in the capacity-filled sanctuary at Saddleback Church as part of the church's 7th Civil Forum. Bush and Warren used the forum to expound on some of the details Bush's recently released book, "Decision Points."

Warren asked Bush questions about freedom, the value of religion, the role of faith-based programs helping social causes, AIDS, his parents and about the effect his mother's miscarriage had on his belief of life. The goal of the church's forum is to give people an opportunity to hear from leaders who have positively affected humanity.

"The tendency is that when you have power, people will walk in and say you're looking pretty, even when you're not," Bush quipped. "In order to achieve results, you have to align authority and responsibility. Organizations often fail when leaders become the center of organization. In my case, it wasn't serving George W. Bush or the Republican Party, it was serving the American people."

Warren asked Bush about attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "You were running on a platform of the educational president," Warren said. "When 9/11 hit, what did you feel?"

"In a crisis, a leader can't overreact," Bush said. "I made a decision just to wait until I left the classroom. Then I hustled to make a statement. I felt an unspeakable sadness when I watched the TV broadcasts on Air Force One. I just couldn't help people. I was warned not to go to Washington because of the uncertainty of the moment, but I damn sure wasn't going to speak from a bunker in Omaha, Nebraska."

Bush called freedom a gift from the almighty and brought the audience to its feet in applause.

"The ultimate way to protect ourselves is to spread freedom and marginalize the haters," Bush said. "You shouldn't be surprised what people will risk for freedom. Freedom will prevail if the United States of America will stand on its principles."

Three times, Bush was interrupted by women who screamed at him from the audience. Each time, they were escorted outside. Bush used the opportunity to throw more humor into the conversation, saying that sometimes you've just got to laugh, and the audience responded in a roaring laughter drowning out the screams.

I love the fact the audience laughed in the face of the idiot protesters. That's absolutely the best way to handle them.

George Bush is Obama's worst nightmare - not because he supposedly left him a mess to clean up, but because by comparison Bush is diminishing Obama daily without even trying.