(Image Source: NBC)

BY TRACY PFEIFFER

In a media blitz to promote his memoirs, former President Bush sat down with NBC’s Matt Lauer for his first televised interview since leaving office.

BUSH: “I really don’t care about perceptions at this point in time.  I served, I gave it my all, and I’m a content man.”

But the exchange left some pundits rolling their eyes. (Video: NBC)

A columnist for The Guardian focused on Bush’s demeanor, saying it reeked of arrogance.

“But these qualities in Bush were all too apparent in last night's interview, particularly in the way he would dance away from any acknowledgement of culpability by saying that he could ‘understand why people feel that way’... [It] is an infuriating way of avoiding responsibility and ultimately puts the blame on them."

The New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley compares seeing the former president to running into a former spouse who was - quote - “eerily the same and weirdly diminished.”

“It was a fascinating, at times disarming, performance, but also a confusing one: a plea for understanding from a president who says he doesn’t give a fig about popularity. At one point, Mr. Bush boasted that when an acquaintance told him his approval ratings were up, he retorted, ‘Who cares?’”

One issue in particular had the blogosphere up in arms--Bush says one of the lowest points in his presidency was when rapper Kanye West uttered the now-famous sentence: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” (Video: HLN)

A short article in The Atlantic says, it isn’t surprising--but what does it say about W?

“I thought Kanye West's comments were pretty silly, and typical of Kanye. It's also typical of George Bush that the implication that he's a racist is worse then the implication that he sent thousands of people to their deaths on a lie.”

But anchors on HLN’s Showbiz Tonight say perhaps this admission IS the intimate self-reflection many have been asking for.

“You know, Kanye used very strong words for him, Jim, so who can blame President Bush for wanting to clear the air in such a strong way?”

“When you attack somebody and say they are racist, it’s not their policies, it’s not their presidency, not their job, but them--the core.  It really upset him, you can see it.”

“It cuts deep.  You can see it in his eyes and his body language.”