PRESIDENT BUSH isn't flummoxed anymore. He talks with self-assurance, in private and public, about foreign leaders, whether they should be taken seriously, precisely how their countries fit into his plans for making the world safe for America. He chuckles about transparent efforts by Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to placate, through newspaper interviews, the American public's animosity toward his country. He's concluded both Saudi Arabia and Egypt aren't critical to America's strategy in the world, and says so. In his State of the Union speech last week, the president left Syria out of the "axis of evil," figuring President Bashar Assad is so fearful of U.S. power he may rid Syria of terrorists on his own. On domestic matters, Bush's views are settled. Give Congress a list of energy company officials who conferred with Vice President Dick Cheney? He's more adamant than Cheney in rejecting that idea. Let polls influence his war policies? "I don't care about polls," Bush says.
That's easy to say when your poll numbers are as high as Bush's. But popularity has its benefits. It's given Bush the luxury of defining his presidency, deciding exactly what he wants it to be about. And now we know: It's about war and security and sustaining the spirit of America produced by the September 11 terrorist attacks. Bush is ready to be judged, up or down, on how well he thwarts America's enemies. Sure, he mentioned several dozen domestic issues in his State of the Union speech. But he did so
fleetingly, reflecting how concerned he is about them. Not very. What matters most is "how he handles both fronts of this war, the international one, the one at home," says adviser Karl Rove. "The international is the one that's more important now."
Bush's extraordinary first year in the White House culminates in his emergence as a full-blown war president. He began as a more conservative and populist copy of his father, President George H.W. Bush. What James Fallows once wrote about President Jimmy Carter could have been said about Bush: He had 50 ideas, but no one idea. September 11 may not have changed him, but it transformed his presidency. Now it's about one thing, the war. As Isaiah Berlin would put it, he's a hedgehog, not a fox. He's grown more and more like another president, Ronald Reagan. Reagan, too, had one big idea: defeating communism. For him and for Bush, everything was subordinated to a single goal.
A prominent feature now of Bush's governing style is presidential power, exercised baldly, boldly, and worldwide. More than ever, he's convinced his manner of dealing with allies is correct. He informs them of what he's planning to do and invites them to come along. He doesn't negotiate over strategy. This contrasts with the style of President Bill Clinton, who talked to allies about a problem and asked their opinion on what to do. At home, it's the same. Bush pays minimal attention to congressional input on the war. He believes Congress has no business asking for the names of outsiders who consulted on his energy policy. He didn't hesitate to give recess appointments to two nominees, Otto Reich and Eugene Scalia.
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