We’ve been hearing quite a bit lately about the president reaching out to observers outside his inner circle for big-picture bull sessions. In April, Bush met with some “big money players up from Texas,” who got out exactly one question before president launched into an extended rant about how no one understands him. In May, Bush reportedly had another gathering in which long-time friends found him “nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated ‘I am the president!'”
The Washington Post’s Peter Baker noted today that these conversations are apparently becoming quite common.
At the nadir of his presidency, George W. Bush is looking for answers. One at a time or in small groups, he summons leading authors, historians, philosophers and theologians to the White House to join him in the search.
Over sodas and sparkling water, he asks his questions: What is the nature of good and evil in the post-Sept. 11 world? What lessons does history have for a president facing the turmoil I’m facing? How will history judge what we’ve done? Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America? Or is it just me they hate?
These are the questions of a president who has endured the most drastic political collapse in a generation. Not generally known for intellectual curiosity, Bush is seeking out those who are, engaging in a philosophical exploration of the currents of history that have swept up his administration.
What’s unclear is exactly what the president hopes to get out of these conversations. Indeed, through the course of Baker’s piece, it’s clear that Bush isn’t looking for advice, per se, because he’s already convinced that he’s right. He isn’t looking for constructive criticism, because he doesn’t want to change course. He isn’t looking for historical predictions, because he’s already certain that history will look kindly on his tenure.
One gets the distinct impression that Bush is arranging meetings with these scholarly observers in the hopes that one of them will confirm everything he already believes.
The Hudson Institute’s Irwin Stelzer, who participated in one of these White House chats, said, “You don’t get any feeling of somebody crouching down in the bunker. This is either extraordinary self-confidence or out of touch with reality. I can’t tell you which.”
Couldn’t it be a little of both?
Much of the discussion focused on the nature of good and evil, a perennial theme for Bush, who casts the struggle against Islamic extremists in black-and-white terms. Michael Novak, a theologian who participated, said it was clear that Bush weathers his difficulties because he sees himself as doing the Lord’s work.
“His faith is very strong,” said Novak, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “Faith is not enough by itself because there are a lot of people who have faith but weak hearts. But his faith is very strong. He seeks guidance, like every other president does, in prayer. And that means trying to be sure he’s doing the right thing. And if you’ve got that set, all the criticism, it doesn’t faze you very much. You’re answering to God.”
Perhaps, but in a democratic system of government, he’s supposed to answer to the public and to checks and balances. Bush is, of course, entitled to his faith, but I suspect many Americans would be more confident in the White House if the president saw himself doing the nation’s business, too.
A senior House Republican who met with Bush recently said the president is still not hearing the advice he needs. “There’s nobody there [in the White House] who can stand up to him and tell him, ‘Mr. President, you’ve got to do this. You’re wrong on this,'” the GOP lawmaker said. “There’s no adult supervision. It’s like he’s oblivious.”
Only 568 days to go.