Voters felt that economic conditions were worse than they actually were, which harmed Bush. A rare event was the presence of a strong third-party candidate. Liberals launched a backlash against 12 years of a conservative White House. The chief factor was Clinton uniting his party, and winning over a number of heterogeneous groups.[274]

Post-presidency (1993–2018)
Main article: Post-presidency of George H. W. Bush
Appearances
President Bill Clinton meeting with former presidents Bush and Jimmy Carter at the White House in September 1993
After leaving office, Bush and his wife built a retirement house in the community of West Oaks, Houston.[275] He established a presidential office within the Park Laureate Building on Memorial Drive in Houston.[276] He also frequently spent time at his vacation home in Kennebunkport, took annual cruises in Greece, went on fishing trips in Florida, and visited the Bohemian Club in Northern California. He declined to serve on corporate boards, but delivered numerous paid speeches and served as an adviser to The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm.[277] He never published his memoirs, but he and Brent Scowcroft co-wrote A World Transformed, a 1998 work on foreign policy. 