PRESIDENT George Bush believed that Barack Obama was ''a cat'' who ''had no clue'', dismissed Sarah Palin as a nonentity and insulted Hillary Clinton for having a large backside, according to a new account of the White House under the former president.
For all his public politeness, Mr Bush privately mocked his fellow politicians, according to his former speech writer Matt Latimer, whose book Speech Less: Tale of a White House Survivor has been awaited with anxiety by members of the previous US administration.
In extracts published by GQ magazine, Mr Latimer claims Mr Bush reacted furiously to criticisms by Mr Obama.
''He [Bush] came in one day to rehearse a speech, fuming. 'This is a dangerous world,' he said for no apparent reason, 'and this cat [Obama] isn't remotely qualified to handle it. This guy has no clue, I promise you.' ''
He claims Mr Bush then paused and said to no one in particular: ''You think I wasn't qualified? I was qualified.''
Of Mrs Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee vaulted from the obscurity of governing Alaska, Mr Bush joked: ''I'm trying to remember if I've met her before. What is she, the governor of Guam?''
Mr Latimer recalls Mr Bush telling aides after Mrs Palin's nomination: ''This woman is being put into a position she is not even remotely prepared for. She hasn't spent one day on the national level.''
Appointed in 2007, the author observed a president with sharp political judgment often dispensed with a sarcastic, rude or humorous flourish.
Mr Bush believed Mrs Clinton would win the Democratic nomination but thought she may have underestimated the job at hand.
''Wait till her fat [backside] is sitting at this desk,'' he is alleged to have said.
However, the reality of working at the heart of power was a disappointment, according to Mr Latimer. ''It was less like West Wing and more like The Office,'' he writes.
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