Former President George W. Bush praises President Obama on counterterrorism and immigration reform

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Former President George W. Bush had kind words for his successor Sunday, praising President Obama’s push for immigration reform and his tough counterterrorism policies.

“I think the President got into the Oval Office and realized the dangers to the United States, and he's acted in a way that he thinks is necessary to protect the country,” Bush said during a taped interview that aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”“Protecting the country is the most important job of the presidency,” Bush added, in response to a question about whether he felt surprised that Obama had kept many of the counterterrorism programs put in place during his own administration. Obama has come under criticism following the disclosure that the National Security Agency has continued to implement cellphone and Internet data surveillance programs created by Bush.The former President also said he felt encouraged by the progress of the comprehensive immigration reform bill being pushed by the White House and passed in June by the Senate. “It looks like immigration, you know, has a chance to pass," Bush said about the bill’s prospects in the House. “The reason to pass immigration reform is not to bolster a Republican Party — it's to fix a system that's broken.""It's very important to fix a broken system, to treat people with respect and have confidence in our capacity to assimilate people," Bush said. "It's a very difficult bill to pass because there's a lot of moving parts. The legislative process can be ugly. But it looks like they're making some progress,” he said. Last month the Senate passed the much-discussed bill, which would give about 11 million people in the country illegally a pathway to citizenship, but it faces uncertain prospects in the House, where Republican lawmakers have criticized the legislation.