"What a difference a week makes. Last Sunday, President Bush was
depicted by aides as a hands-off wartime CEO, leaving most, if
not all, of the major battlefield and military strategy decisions
to his appointees. Unlike most people, Bush allegedly hadn't
watched footage of the bombs falling on Baghdad (The president
doesn't watch much TV, spokesman Ari Fleischer explained), nor
was he losing sleep over the war.
Today, a NYT piece says exactly the opposite: Bush, aides say,
has emerged as an "engrossed commander in chief," who, in this
particular spin cycle, is far more interested in the tic toc of
the war than his father was during the first Gulf War.
Furthermore, according to the piece, Bush has indeed been
watching cable TV news channels for war updates. Why the
discrepancy? Aides tell the NYT they had been a little too eager
not to "personalize" the war as Bush v. Saddam, the man who
attempted to assassinate his father. So misleading reporters
gives the White House more credibility? The NYT unfortunately
doesn't press this, but does reveal that Bush hasn't yet
second-guessed his decision to go to war--and he probably won't,
friends say. "The only time I've seen him second-guessing himself
was when he said that we shouldn't have traded Sammy Sosa,"
Roland Betts, a friend and former owner of the Texas Rangers,
tells the paper."
Today's Papers @
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