George W. Bush (L), Kanye West (R)

Kanye West probably shouldn't look for an invitation to any of former US President George W. Bush's coming book parties.
Of all the critics who took aim at Bush in his eight years as president, West seems to stand out in his memory. In Bush's new memoir, “Decision Points,” to be released next week, he recalls with anger and resentment West's accusation after Hurricane Katrina that “George Bush doesn't care about black people.”
In the book, Bush writes that he was “disgusted” and “deeply insulted” by the accusation, telling his wife, Laura, that it was the lowest moment of his presidency. He expanded on that in an interview with Matt Lauer of NBC News.
“I didn't appreciate it then. I don't appreciate it now,” Bush told Lauer. “It's one thing to say, 'I don't appreciate the way he's handled his business.' It's another thing to say, 'This man's a racist.' I resent it. It's not true. And it was one of the most disgusting moments in my presidency.”
Bush's recollections of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath form one of the 14 decisions he analyses in the book. While rejecting accusations that he did not care enough about the suffering in New Orleans, Bush acknowledges that he did not respond as effectively as he should have.
“I should have recognised the deficiencies sooner and intervened faster,” he writes. “I prided myself on my ability to make crisp and effective decisions. Yet in the days after Katrina, that didn't happen. The problem was not that I made the wrong decisions. It was that I took too long to decide.”
He adds: “I made an additional mistake by failing to adequately communicate my concern for the victims of Katrina. This was a problem of perception, not reality. My heart broke at the sight of helpless people trapped on their rooftops waiting to be rescued.”
Meanwhile Kanye West responded to Bush's revelation.
West replied with a seemingly newfound sense of empathy for the former president, “I definitely can understand the way he feels to be accused of being a racist in any way, because… the same thing happened to me. I got accused of being a racist, and… with both situations it was a lack of compassion...”
West compared criticism of Bush following Katrina to criticism West received after he rushed the stage at the 2009 Video Music Awards announcing that Beyonce deserved to win an award rather than Taylor Swift. He said, “It was a lack of compassion with him not taking the time to rush down to New Orleans. With me it was a lack of compassion of cutting someone off in her moment. But nonetheless, you know I think we're all quick to pull, like a race card, in America. And now I'm more open and the poetic justice that I feel to have went through the same thing that he went through, and I really more connect with him on just a humanitarian level.”

Compiled by Correspondent