WASHINGTON – Former President George W. Bush said seeing his father, President George H.W. Bush, weather public criticism helped prepare him for the brutal realities of the White House.

“You watch somebody you love get lampooned or made fun of or harshly criticized, it hurts,” the younger Bush told CBS’ Norah O’Donnell for a “60 Minutes” segment Sunday on the elder Bush, who passed away Friday at the age of 94.

“So by the time I became president I had a fair amount of asbestos on my skin and it didn’t hurt nearly as much, it turns out,” he explained, admitting that “being the child of a president is unpleasant.”

O’Donnell suggested he had become “fire retardant” from criticism.

“Exactly,” the ex-president stated. “In the end, though, we both knew it was part of the job. Which is actually good, you know, for the country. You want powerful people to be held under scrutiny.”

Twenty-five years after leaving the White House, O’Donnell acknowledged that Bush 41’s one-term presidency looks “better and better.”

“We all do,” Bush said laughing. “That’s the way time works.”

Bush recalled that he wasn’t that interested in politics until, at age 18, his father ran for the U.S. Senate in Texas.

“Well, I learned that politics is an exciting way of life, for starters,” said Bush, who became president eight years after his father left office. “I got on the campaign trail with him and liked it. Turns out, I like people a lot and campaigning with him was awesome. It was fun and free-spirited in a way.”

Years later, when the was in office and was dealing with the fallout of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, he remembered his father being there when he needed him.

Bush had to give a eulogy for 9/11 victims at National Cathedral in Washington – which will host a ceremony for his father on Wednesday.

“That was a hard speech to give, for starters,” Bush recalled.

His wife Laura, mom Barbara and dad all sat in nearby pews.

“And I knew not to look down there, to see Laura, mom and dad,” the ex-president said. “I better focus on this baby, because there’s nothing worse than a blubbering president.”

After he sat down, his dad reached over to grab his hand.

“I felt this hand, it was my dad. It was very comforting. It was just a beautiful gesture,” Bush said. “And it was captured on film and so I’m able to kind of reminisce about that moment. And the emotions of it are still with me.”