The Many Moods of George W. Bush

Yesterday, Bush stood up in front of the White House press corps and, acknowledging the Democratic tide in the House (and at that time still only potential takeover of the Senate) promised bipartisanship and compromise. Today, he met with Nancy Pelosi and echoed those promises, but before that lunch meeting, he outlined a combative agenda he intended to push quickly through the lame-duck Congress the Democrats take over in January, which included the divisive nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the UN. After yesterday's press conference, I was ready to reconsider my comments from early Wednesday morning about Bush being as stubborn and recalcitrant as ever. When I heard the news about Bolton today, I was initially glad that I hadn't written that post last night, but on further reflection, I realized that I was right to stand by my initial reaction to the press conference.

I only heard part of the presser on the radio, but I couldn't shake the sense that we were hearing something new: a chastened George W. Bush. I went to look at the transcript later, and it wasn't apparent in print, but his tone and manner seemed unmistakable to me. When I also learned that he was replacing Donald Rumsfeld with Robert Gates, his father's old CIA chief, I realized that we haven't yet actually seen all possible sides of the Prez. There's one part of his history that has never been on public display, so we don't really know how he reacts to it. Could this possibly be what's happened in the past when W has reached the failure phase of his various ventures? Is this the George W. Bush response when he's ready to be bailed out by his dad's cronies?

The confrontational plan offered this morning was just faux bravado from a White House concerned that the Prez had appeared to be too vulnerable the day before. He was still tough. He was still in control. But I'm not sure that's true. In the face of so much failure in foreign affairs and on the domestic front, I have to wonder if Bush hasn't checked out both mentally and emotionally. Maybe we'll just be left with the clean-up crew from here on out. If Brent Scowcroft reenters the picture, we'll know that's the case.