Bush's holiday reading list revealed

WASHINGTON - Is President George Bush already thinking of life after the White House? While Mr Bush still has a full three years of his term left, his spokesman has revealed that his holiday reading list contains a biography of Theodore Roosevelt's life after leaving office.

He is also reading about the lives of the ordinary US soldiers he has dispatched to various parts of the globe - a legacy that is likely to be a key factor when Mr Bush's presidency is judged.

"The president is a history buff," Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, told reporters at Mr Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he is spending the holidays.

"So he picked it up and he's reading it. He is an avid reader."

He added: "The president knows full well that he's got a lot of time left in this second term, and he's going to accomplish big things as he has talked about repeatedly."

But the book Mr Bush is reading - When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House, by Patricia O'Toole - suggests the president is thinking beyond the White House.

Roosevelt, who was 50 when his second term came to an end in 1909, went on to accomplish an extraordinary number of endeavours after leaving office.

Among these were the writing of more than 10 books, shooting more than 500 animals on a safari to Africa, leading an exploration to remote parts of the Brazilian rainforest and also running as a third-party candidate on the Bull Moose ticket.

He died peacefully at the age of 60.

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley told the Los Angeles Times: "TR is the perfect ex-president to study as a role model. He attained almost bigger stature out of the White House than within."

Mr Bush also packed Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground.

Written by Robert Kaplan, the book contains a fair amount of critical commentary on Mr Bush's "war on terror".

The book on Roosevelt was apparently recommended to Mr Bush by NBC television anchor Brian Williams.

In a recent interview with Mr Williams, Mr Bush claimed that - contrary to some reports - he did actually take time to read newspapers and to watch television.

"Every morning I look at the newspaper. I can't say I've read every single article in the newspaper. But I definitely know what's in the news," he said.

- INDEPENDENT