There was actually a bright spot from the Sunday morning shows today, and it came from This Week on ABC. They had one of the better interviews with President George W. Bush I’ve seen in a while, taking place in Africa shortly after he had met with President Obama in Tanzania. He was there with Laura, working on a charity project to combat cervical cancer. What made the interview memorable was the complete lack of interest he showed in politics, along with a total refusal to rise to the bait of the press on the usual landmines. In one instance, the host attempted to drag him into the gay marriage debate.

Bush had waded into the revitalized same-sex marriage debate last week – if only barely – in a comment to a reporter in Zambia, who asked whether gay marriage conflicts with Christian values.

“I shouldn’t be taking a speck out of someone else’s eye when I have a log in my own,” Bush said last week.

In an interview in Tanzania with ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl, the former president explained his comment further.

“I meant it’s very important for people not to be overly critical of someone else until you’ve examined your own heart,” Bush told Karl.

He did weigh in on immigration, but only in a tangential way. He also refused to get into any sort of spitting contest with the current president, sticking to the same policy he’s kept since leaving office. When pressed during the interview to say what he and Obama had talked about “when the cameras weren’t rolling” he had a pretty good response.

“What a big pain the press is.”

This is one interview worth watching. The former CINC continues to work on helping veterans and a variety of charitable interests, and seems to be enjoying the freedom of being out of the cage of the Oval Office. Give it a look.