No Joke: George W. Bush Writing a Book on Economic Growth

Sometimes you have to ask yourself if something is genuine or whether the keen minds behind The Onion have managed to hack reality. To wit: Former President George W. Bush is writing a book on—wait for it—strategies for economic growth.

The Center for American Progress's Pat Garofalo caught this little tidbit and nicely summarized why the idea of Bush writing a book on economic growth is ludicrous.

After all, under his watch, "growth in investment, GDP, and employment all posted their worst performance of any post-war expansion," while "overall monthly job growth was the worst of any cycle since at least February 1945, and household income growth was negative for the first cycle since tracking began in 1967." As the Economic Policy Institute found, "between the end of the 2001 recession (2001Q4) and the peak of that expansion (2007Q4), the U.S. economy experienced the worst economic expansion of the post-war era."

And there was the matter of the Great Recession.

[Check out a roundup of editorial cartoons on the economy.]

This is like Tim Tebow writing a treatise on passing accuracy, like Fox News releasing a how-to guide on fairness and balance in television coverage, like Rush Limbaugh teaching a gender sensitivity class, like Newt Gingrich lecturing about the sanctity of marriage, like Emily Post publishing a collection of "Yo Mamma" jokes. For sheer chutzpah this blows away Michael "Brownie" Brown penning a book on Hurricane Katrina and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt "Let's Cut Taxes and Increase Defense Spending" Romney lecturing anyone on the deficit.

Bush not being one given to introspection and cataloging of his own errors, it seems unlikely that the volume will be styled along the lines of "do the opposite of my presidential policies." In fact given the publication date and the fact that Romney seems intent on doubling down on Bush's agenda, I can guess what the title will be: The 2012 Republican Party Platform.

• Susan Milligan: Bush's Romney Endorsement Doesn't Matter
• Follow Robert Schlesinger on Twitter at @rschles
• Check out U.S. News Weekly: an insider's guide to politics and policy

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