AUGUST 27, 2010George W. Bush has remained mostly out of view and silent on policy debates since leaving office 19 months ago.
Now, the former president is about to step into the public arena again, at a moment when Washington is revisiting tax cuts, stem cells and other issues that were among the most contentious of his administration.
Mr. Bush is re-emerging to promote his memoir, to be published a week after the Nov. 2 elections.
While the timing suggests that the book will not provide fodder for midterm campaigns, Mr. Bush will return to the public eye just as the Republican Party looks ahead to asserting greater power in Congress and to choosing its 2012 presidential nominee, and as President Barack Obama accuses the GOP of wanting to take the country back to Bush-era programs that, the Democratic president says, "drove the car into the ditch."
And the contents of his memoir make it likely that his voice will be heard on policy issues of the moment.
The book, "Decision Points," published by Crown Publishing Group, lays out 14 major decisions by Mr. Bush during his life and White House tenure. Among them, according to several people who have seen the manuscript: backing the bailout of the nation's financial system, enacting billions of dollars in tax cuts, limiting the use of
human embryonic stem cells, and building up troops in Iraq for the so-called surge.
Some of those issues have regained prominence recently.
Due to a court ruling this week, lawmakers this fall may revisit the question of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, one of the major domestic controversies of Mr. Bush's early years in office.
Mr. Bush's tax cuts expire at year's end, making them a likely topic of debate by lawmakers this fall, while Mr. Obama's commission on deficit reduction is scheduled to submit its report on related subjects Dec. 1.
Leading up to the midterm elections, the financial bailout also has emerged as a point of debate on the role of government. And this month's drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, and the transition away from a combat focus, has spurred debate over Mr. Bush's surge.
Mr. Bush also offers new details on his decisions during Hurricane Katrina, and on immigration, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and other war-related issues, such as the controversial warrantless wiretapping program.
Mr. Bush's promotional efforts begin Nov. 8 with a one-hour, prime-time special on NBC hosted by Matt Lauer. Advisors to Mr. Bush say other media interviews and a book tour are in the works, possibly further opening him to questions from the media and the public.
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