A story in the Washington Post has quote today from President Bush:

“I said, ‘You know, I’m not going to change as a person because of politics or Washington’ — that’s what I said when I left,” Bush said. “I think they appreciate that. I want them to know that, you know, even though I had to deal with a lot of tough issues, that I’m still the same person that they knew before and that, you know, I’m wiser, more experienced, but my heart and my values didn’t change.”

Bush’s problem is not that his heart or values changed, his problem is that I have no idea what he values are. He doesn’t value fiscal conservationism, or otherwise he would have fought the big spenders from his own party in Congress. He will be remembered for the incredible increase in federal spending he presided over.

He has an almost limitless belief in the power of big government. As a result, he thought we could easily create a  new society in Iraq and that the financial situation could be easily remedied through enormous amounts of spending. He was wrong.

Bush values might not have changed, but he will be remembered as destroying his party because America doesn’t share his values.