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Opinion: Back already, George W. Bush hits the lecture trail

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Ten days ago Barack Obama made his first foreign trip as president -- to Canada.

Next month, George W. Bush will make his first foreign trip as ex-president -- to Canada.

Like most former VIPs, he’s taking to the lecture circuit, which pays quite handsomely for simply talking. Ex-President Clinton can pull down more than $100,000 for a speech, something which his political communications staff used to be happy to arrange without charge just for the free media time.

Clinton’s former sidekick, Al Gore, has received nearly that much for his environmental talks. But he also has to do a slide show for that.

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Like his brother Jeb and wife Laura, Bush has signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau to make appearances in the U.S. and abroad. Asia and Europe are already on the calendar. So far, according to Mike Allen of Politico.com, Bush has 10 speeches lined up for this year with others to come.

His first speech is scheduled for the convention center in Calgary, Alberta on March 17 to a predominantly business group; it’s being billed as a two-hour conversation with Bush, closed to the media. Through the oil and related businesses, Calgary has countless commercial connections with Texas and also is the Canadian city with the largest American population.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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