SPEAKING WISELY – AT 8:48 A.M. ET:  Former President George W. Bush has spoken out on the WikiLeaks scandal, with a dose of Bushian common sense.  From CNN:

(CNN) -- Former President George W. Bush joined a chorus of U.S. officials calling any leaks of sensitive government information "very damaging," telling a forum at Facebook headquarters that Wikileaks' recent release of 250,000 documents may significantly hurt Washington's image abroad.

"It's going to be very hard to keep the trust of foreign leaders," the nation's 43rd president said of the documents on issues ranging from Iran to Honduras to Turkey. "If you have a conversation with a foreign leader and it ends up in a newspaper, you don't like it. I didn't like it."

He is right, of course.  You may be sure that foreign leaders, right now, are reconfiguring their approach to this country, and watching their private comments.  What a disaster for us.

A relaxed Bush was joined by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on stage in Palo Alto, California, with hundreds watching from the audience and up to 6,500 following the interview live online.

The hourlong discussion centered on Bush's memoir, "Decision Points." Released just over two weeks ago, the book ranks atop the New York Times' hardcover nonfiction best-seller list, topping works by the likes of rapper Jay-Z, rocker Keith Richards and the late Mark Twain.

Well, Twain won't be hot again until his next book.  Jay-Z and Keith Richards have limited appeal in the literary world.

COMMENT:  Bush's public-opinion stock has been rising.  In fact, his political resurrection is occurring much faster than anyone had predicted.  He was hardly a perfect president, but one can't help but be impressed by his decisiveness and his clarity of thought. 

The greatest resurrection, of course, was the post-presidency rise of Harry S. Truman, who left office with an approval rating in the 20s, and who is now regarded as a great or near-great president.  The fringe left, of course, does not join in that appraisal, since it was Truman who formulated the policies that allowed us to successfully confront the Soviet Union in the Cold War.  But the fringe left can take its 12 votes and go cast them somewhere, preferably San Francisco. 

November 30, 2010