George W. Bush on Starting the Wall Street 'Bailout': 'We Had to Do Something Big' (VIDEO)

George W. Bush has been lying low for the past two years. The former president served two terms in office, leaving with the lowest approval ratings in modern history. But now, Mr. Bush is talking about the crises he faced -- including the 9/11 attack, two wars, Hurricane Katrina and the Wall Street financial collapse.

On 'Decision Points: A Conversation With George W. Bush' (Mon., 8PM ET on NBC), Matt Lauer spoke with Mr. Bush. The former president was candid in his replies, and the man who called himself "the Decider" stood by his past choices -- including his decision to spend nearly $400 billion of taxpayers' money on the Wall Street "bailout."

Bush argued in favor of the bailout, As president, he felt he had to "do something big" to stop a nationwide depression. He said the choice was this: Stick with his conservative belief in the "free-market system" and let the economy fail, or use taxpayers' money to rescue the banks.

The ex-president said he understood voters' hatred for the program. "They do hate it; I can understand that." He said giving money to tycoons who may have "created the crisis" naturally caused taxpayers "angst." "But ... I wasn't worried about angst ... I was worried about the economy going down." He also argued that the bailout will end up costing less than voters think. (Many economists think the final cost will be around $30 billion once taxpayers are reimbursed.)

Although the bailout was Bush's plan, his successor is getting a lot of the blame for it. Matt Lauer pointed out that nearly 50 percent of Americans think President Obama created the bailout. Bush laughed at the irony: "Oh yeah?" he said, and chuckled. "50 percent of the people [are] wrong ... it happened under my watch!"