He wanted to get “the noses right.”
George W. Bush on Monday proudly showed off his artistic vision of presidents 41 and 43 — himself and beloved dad George H.W. Bush.
“I was very proud to be standing [in the painting] next to a man I admire greatly,” Bush told NBC’s “Today” show, hyping his book, “41.”
“First thing I wanted to make sure is I got the noses right. I’ve tried to paint a gentle soul, and I did it. As for me, I kind of bumbled through it.”
The nation’s 43rd president insisted his pops will get better treatment from historians than he did from voters.
President Bill Clinton ousted the elder Bush in 1992 by more than 5.8 million votes.
“He [H.W. Bush] was overshadowed by a very transformative president, Ronald Reagan,” Bush said. “But eventually, historians will realize he was a great one-term president.”
Bush said he has sympathy for President Obama, whose party suffered a humiliating electoral beatdown last week.
If familiarity breeds contempt, Bush said, he’s all too familiar with that sentiment.
“Well I’m sure he [Obama] was disappointed,” the former president said. “I think they [Republicans] ought to propose reasonable agenda items that the American people want to have happen … but the other thing is, people get kind of tired of a president after a while. I’m a pro.”
Bush’s book, “41: A Portrait of My Father,” goes on sale Tuesday.