Former Sen. Bob Dole said during a visit to his Kansas hometown that Americans need to be confident in their president.

“We’re due for another (Dwight) Eisenhower,” Dole told reporters Friday in Russell, where he was attending the 2011 Prairiesta celebration. The event recognizing Russell County’s 140th anniversary continues through Sunday.

The Salina Journal reported the Republican, who has run unsuccessfully for vice president and president, said he would like to see U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus on the GOP presidential ticket in 2012.

“It’s time for somebody that the American people can have confidence in,” the World War II veteran Dole said to reporters at the Dole-Specter Conference Center.

He said President Barack Obama got “a bit of a bounce” in his public approval when Osama bin Laden was killed this spring. But Dole also criticized the president.

“As long as the teleprompter is working, he’ll be OK,” Dole said.

The Kansas native admits he’s made mistakes during his career, but said he cherishes the time he got to spend working with the people of his home state. He said he misses some aspects of politics.

“I miss being in the eye of the storm, trying to work out compromises and bringing people together,” he said. “It can’t be ‘my way or the highway.”‘

Dole was a U.S. senator from Kansas from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican nominee in the 1996 U.S. presidential election, losing to Bill Clinton.

Before that, Dole was the Republican vice presidential nominee on the ticket with Gerald Ford, who lost the 1976 presidential election to Jimmy Carter.