Patience advised for author Bush

In less than three months, President-elect Barack Obama will take office and the Bush administration will belong to history. With the president reportedly interested in writing about his White House years, publishers have a suggestion:

Take your time.

“If I were advising President Bush, given how the public feels about him right now, I think patience would probably be something that I would encourage,” says Paul Bogaards, executive director of publicity for Alfred A. Knopf, which in 2004 released Bill Clinton’s million-selling “My Life.”

“Certainly the longer he waits, the better,” says Marji Ross, president and publisher of the conservative Regnery Publishing, which is more likely to take on anti-Obama books in the next few years than any praises of Bush.

In a poor economy, it’s not a great time for anyone to shop a book, and certainly not for a deeply unpopular president. Bush’s approval ratings are in the 20s and Republicans are at a low moment after Tuesday night, when Obama defeated Sen. John McCain by a convincing margin.