Bush to "Replenish the Ol' Coffers" as Motivational Speaker
Back in September 2007, George W. Bush revealed his plans for life after the White House. First, Mr. Bush said, "I'll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol' coffers." The following July, Kathryn Jean Lopez, one of his bath water drinkers at the National Review, suggested, "Wouldn't George W. Bush make an awesome high-school government teacher?"
Now, as it turns out, President Bush, a man Lopez deemed "a likable guy in love with his country with some history and experience to share" is combining the two paths as a motivational speaker.
In Fort Worth this month and again in December in San Antonio, Bush will join the likes of Terry Bradshaw, Zig Ziglar, Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell and Robert Schuller in a special guest appearance for the Get Motivated! seminar series. As TPM notes in amazement, an entire office can attend the arena events for a mere $19, which according to its organizers promises:
Our world-renowned speakers appear LIVE ON-STAGE to provide you a full day of hundreds of proven ideas, formulas and success keys. GET MOTIVATED! is guaranteed to help you and your organization reach new heights of success. You'll be inspired, enlightened, motivated, trained and entertained by America's foremost success experts!
Bush's success expertise, as Jim Hightower once claimed, was being born on third base and claiming he hit a triple. A serial failure in the oil business who narrowly avoided charges of insider trading thanks to his father's connections at the SEC, Bush turned a tidy profit as general manager of the Texas Rangers baseball team in part due to a dubious taxpayer-funded stadium deal. Judged among the worst presidents in U.S. history, Dubya's cataclysmically low approval ratings led him to his first paid speaking gig north of the border in Canada. If nothing else, the nation's first MBA President serves as a horrible example to others.
Ms. Lopez' National Review colleague Mark Hemingway noted in 2007 that "Bill Clinton does gigs for Tony Robbins's competing organization at $300,000 a pop--but only in Canada." Already worth over $20 million in 2007, George W. Bush told biographer Robert Draper he could make "ridiculous" money on the lecture circuit. But for his part, Bush made clear to Draper that he had no interest in following in Clinton's footsteps:
He told Draper he could see himself shuttling between Dallas and Crawford. Noting that he ran into former president Bill Clinton at the United Nations last year, Bush added, "Six years from now, you're not going to see me hanging out in the lobby of the U.N."
That's for sure. But you will see George W. Bush next week - at the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena.
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