"He opened the session by declaring, 'Let me just first tell you that I've never been more convinced that the decisions I made are the right decisions,' and he grew more self-assured from there. I interview politicians for a living, and every time I brush against Bush I'm reminded that this guy is different. There's none of that hunger for approval that is common in the breed. This is the most inner-directed man on the globe.
"The other striking feature of his conversation is that he possesses an unusual perception of time. Washington, and modern life in general, encourages people to think in the short term. But Bush, who stands aloof, thinks in long durations."
Brooks's example of Bush's visionary quality was the President's assertion that he had gotten into politics because of his "campaign against the instant gratifications of the 1960s counterculture," which somehow helped qualify him "to think about the war on terror as a generations-long struggle."
Like other Bush enthusiasts, Brooks also failed to consider the dangers from an autocratic leader who both is "inner-directed" and possesses a messianic view of the world. "Inner-directed" could be defined as impervious to outside criticism, advice or even reality. Many of the history's most dangerous dictators were "inner-directed."
But the only criticism of Bush that Brooks could muster was that Bush didn't act aggressively enough in implementing his visionary programs.
"The sad truth is, there has been a gap between Bush's visions and the means his administration has devoted to realize them. And when tactics do not adjust to fit the strategy, then the strategy gets diminished to fit the tactics," Brooks wrote. [NYT, Sept. 14, 2006]
But another way of looking at Bush's presidency is that he and his neoconservative advisers have operated in an ideological reality of their own making, that they have too little respect for the opinions of others, that they are hubristic and anti-democratic.
Return to Petulance
Now, with a slim majority of the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting Bush's claims of unlimited power and with several senior Republicans resisting Bush's demands that he be allowed to redefine the Geneva Conventions, Bush's petulance is returning.
At the Sept. 15 news conference, Bush suggested that senators - such as John Warner and John McCain - were endangering U.S. security by opposing his legislation to rewrite Geneva's Common Article III to allow harsh interrogation of detainees.
"We must also provide our military and intelligence professionals with the tools they need to protect our country from another attack," Bush said. "And the reason they need those tools is because the enemy wants to attack us again."
Bush did not spell out his desired interrogation techniques, since he insists that his administration does not condone torture. But the known practices include simulating drowning by "waterboarding," keeping prisoners naked in excessive heat and cold, sleep deprivation, and forcing them into painful "stress positions" for extended periods of time.
Bush's former Secretary of State Colin Powell joined in opposing Bush's legislation, warning that "the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism." Powell, a retired general, also cautioned that allowing abusive interrogations of prisoners of war would open captured U.S. soldiers to similar abuse
Asked about Powell's comments on Sept. 15, the petulant Bush reappeared.
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