George Bush and Bill Clinton Love Fest

What's the deal with this?:

Bush-Clinton Policy Talk Strikes a Congenial Tone, by Jim Rutenberg, NY Times: Former President Bill Clinton really misses the presidency. ... Former President George W. Bush hardly misses it at all....

But that was practically where the differences stopped as the two former presidents appeared for the first time on a stage together to discuss national and international policy. Each earned more than an estimated $150,000 for the appearance. ...

And as they settled into overstuffed chairs, Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton became something of an ex-presidents’ support group, avoiding direct critiques of each other, or, for that matter, their future club member, President Obama...

When Mr. Clinton said one of his biggest regrets was the lack of United States action during the mass killings in Rwanda, saying “I have no defense,” Mr. Bush responded, “I think you’re being a little tough on yourself.” He added that Mr. Clinton’s lament that he should have sent troops ignored the fact that such deployments are not so simply done.

When Mr. Bush ... defended his policy toward the Darfur region of Sudan, Mr. Clinton got his back, in return. “I think he did about all he could do,” he said. ...

If there was anything that even bordered on a sharp exchange, it was the discussion over Iraq.

Mr. Clinton said he would have preferred for Mr. Bush to have given weapons inspectors more time in Iraq before invading and, in the meantime, “concentrated on Afghanistan.”

Mr. Bush said, with a hint of irritation, “I don’t buy the premise that our attention was distracted,” a rejection of the argument that the Iraq war came at the expense of progress in Afghanistan. ...

Afterward, even audience ... expressed surprise at the level of congeniality. ...