Bush on TARP: ‘I didn’t want to be a president overseeing a depression’

Former president George W Bush says he does not regret his decision to support the Troubled Asset Relief Program in an effort to avoid a serious economic depression during the final months of his presidency.

“I didn’t want to be a president overseeing a Depression,” he said Wednesday at Pershing’s annual gathering of advisers in Hollywood, Fla.

“If I had to do it again, I’d make the exact same decision,” the 43rd president told a room filled with nearly 2,000 financial professionals. “I can’t prove to you that would have had a depression. But I can tell you that we didn’t have one.”

Mr. Bush, who did not take questions from the audience, during his 45-minute talk, also reiterated his support of a continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

“It would be a huge mistake for us to retreat,” he said. “It would be a huge mistake for us to become isolationist.”

Mr. Bush also recounted receiving the telephone call from President Barack Obama last month informing him of the death of Osama Bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda.

“He said very matter of factly ‘We got Osama Bin Laden,’” Mr. Bush recalled. “I was pleased that the president had made a very tough decision. I was pleased for the intelligence community … And I was delighted for SEAL Team Six,” he said of the Naval Seal unit responsible for Mr. Bin Laden’s death.