For McCain, Bush Has Both Praise, Advice

Bush declined to repeat his prediction that Clinton will win the Democratic nomination but raised questions about Obama's readiness for the Oval Office. "I certainly don't know what he believes in," Bush said. "The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was he's going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad."

In fact, what Obama said during primary debates is that he would be willing to authorize military strikes inside Pakistan -- even without permission from the Pakistani government -- if as president he knew where "high-value terrorist targets" were. Obama said he would be willing to meet with rogue leaders such as Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to talk through differences, but he did not embrace him.

"Of course President Bush would attack the one candidate in this race who opposed his disastrous war in Iraq from the start," Obama spokesman Bill Burton retorted in a statement. "But Barack Obama doesn't need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation."

Bush offered no criticism of Clinton and defended her husband for being aggressive in promoting her. "I can understand why President Clinton wants to campaign hard for his wife," he said. "And, yeah, these accusations that Bill Clinton's a racist, I think, has been wrong. I just don't agree with it."

On other subjects, Bush said he plans to sign a $152 billion economic stimulus package on Wednesday, and he left open the possibility that he will take more action if the nation slips further toward recession.

He left open the idea that he would freeze U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after the forces that were sent last year come home this summer, if Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander there, determines he needs certain troop levels to preserve security gains. "My message to the general was: Success is paramount," he said.

Asked about a recent debate over an interrogation technique known as waterboarding, Bush maintained that any actions his administration has taken were legal and that he will take only legal actions in the future.

"The American people have got to know that what we did in the past gained information that prevented an attack," he said. "And for those who criticize what we did in the past, I ask them, which attack would they rather have not . . . stopped?"