As he prepares to slink into the sunset, George W. Bush is like a giddy child when it comes to his future presidential library. While acknowledging this week that the institution won't be a "George Bush is a wonderful person center", he said, "It will be cool-looking." But when it comes to his plans for a post-presidential windfall from giving speeches and writing a memoir, it appears the historically unpopular Bush may struggle to "replenish the 'ol' coffers."
That objective, according to his biographer Robert Draper, tops President Bush's list for life after the White House. As Bush made clear in a series of interviews for Draper's September 2007 book, Dead Certain, lining his pockets on the speaking circuit is job number one after leaving the Oval Office:

First, Mr. Bush said, "I'll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol' coffers." With assets that have been estimated as high as nearly $21 million, Mr. Bush added, "I don't know what my dad gets - it's more than 50-75" thousand dollars a speech, and "Clinton's making a lot of money."
Then he said, "We'll have a nice place in Dallas," where he will be running what he called "a fantastic Freedom Institute" promoting democracy around the world. But he added, "I can just envision getting in the car, getting bored, going down to the ranch."

Sadly for the soon-to-be ex-President, there's only one problem. No one wants to hear from a man now less popular than the Ebola Virus, one whose losing battles with the English language are the stuff of legend. While President Clinton has reaped an estimated $50 million in speaking fees since leaving Washington, Bush shouldn't expect those on the lecture circuit to roll out the red carpet - or open their wallets. As one agent who works in the public speaking business put it, Dubya shouldn't expect a payday, at least not yet:

"My feeling is that for the first year there probably will be minimal interest in him. There have been other former presidents who've been unpopular leaving office, but nobody's ever been this unpopular. After a year, though, people forget and then he'll have a very lucrative career."

As it turns out, George W. Bush may be similarly disappointed when it comes to landing a seven-figure book deal. While his wife Laura has already secured a multi-million dollar payout from Simon & Schuster for her "intimate account" of life in the White House, the President has yet to find any takers. (In that sad state, at least, Bush is joined by disgraced former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.) Again, Americans' disdain for him, combined with the proximity in time to the deepening Bush recession, suggest the market isn't ripe for Dubya's tome:

"If I were advising President Bush, given how the public feels about him right now, I think patience would probably be something that I would encourage," says Paul Bogaards, executive director of publicity for Alfred A. Knopf, which in 2004 released Bill Clinton's million-selling "My Life."
"Certainly the longer he waits, the better," says Marji Ross, president and publisher of the conservative Regnery Publishing, which is more likely to take on anti-Obama books in the next few years than any praises of Bush.

So when it comes to cashing in on his calamitous presidency, George W. Bush has time on his side. Alas, with their nation in tatters after Bush's disservice to the country, the American people sadly don't have that luxury.