Bush Returns to Arena With Memoir in Hand

(By PETER WALLSTEN, Wall Street Journal) - George 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.