“I was on Air Force One the day of the attack, working my way back to Washington via Louisiana and Nebraska… (LAUGHTER) … making sure that the president was safe and secure.” – George W. Bush, yesterday. Take a look at this transcript. I found it illuminating about the president. At home, in Texas, he seems more relaxed and the divide between public and private selves less acute. The self-deprecating humor is a part of that. Take this exchange from the Crawford high school:
“BUSH: The president and I have agreed to take a few questions from the students. I figure this would be a pretty good opportunity for you all to ask…
PUTIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Only questions. No math questions, please.
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: Good idea. Particularly, no fuzzy math questions.”
The alternation of quick humor and sudden sincerity reminds me of JFK.
READING PUTIN: You can see why Bush and Putin get along. Here’s a Putin quote from yesterday: “Of course, it is very important to be born under a happy star and to have destiny facing your way. And indeed, I’m in agreement with the president, perhaps, God was looking quite positively on this. But there are different approaches to addressing such kind of problem. There are people deeply religious who usually say that God knows what is to befall a nation of people or a person. But there are people, no less devoted to God, but who still believe that the people, a person, should also take care of their own destiny and lives. And it gives me great pleasure to deal and to work with President Bush, who is a person, a man who does what he says.” That’s one hell of a quote. It raises the religious question explicitly, respects those who don’t share it, and then provides the clincher of the relationship: Bush is “a man who does what he says.” The media will focus on the lack of agreement between the two countries over the ABM issue. As usual, they’re wrong. The only fundamental issue at Crawford is al Qaeda. Bush artfully and constantly invoked the “evil ones” as an equal threat to the U.S. and Russia. Discussing humanitarian relief in Afghanistan, Bush said, “Part of the problem has been the Taliban. They’ve been stopping the shipments of food, believe it or not. It won’t surprise the president because he understands how evil they are. We’re just learning how evil they are in America.” In this statement, he almost seems to say that Russia is more aware of the problem than the U.S. One other small aside: yesterday a Russian president used the word “liberated” to describe the rescue of American aid workers from the Taliban. “Liberated.” It is a new and hopeful world.
THE OIL ALLIANCE: My bet is that one of the central subjects for discussion at Crawford was not only the post-Taliban government, but Iraq. But the biggest gift that Putin can give, he has already delivered. Which country is mainly responsible for a recent fight with OPEC? A fight that has led to complete disarray in the oil cartel? Yep, thanks to Russia, the price of oil may soon decline to $10 a barrel. That’s a huge boost to the American economy (way more important than an unnecessary “stimulus package”). And Putin did it. Oil is, in fact, a critical part of the new U.S.-Russian relationship. “We in Russia somehow tend to know about Texas rather better than about the rest of the United States somehow,” Putin said yesterday. “Except maybe for Alaska, which we sold to you. In my view, first of all, because, like in Russia, here in Texas the oil business is quite well developed, and we have numerous contacts in this area.” Numerous contacts? Well, at least one extremely high-level one. Part of the fun of watching this president is his own delight in saying little about what he’s really up to. You have to read the tea-leaves. And the oil stains.
THE UNABOMBER ON THE LEFT AND THE WAR: “15. Leftists tend to hate anything that has an image of being strong, good and successful. They hate America, they hate Western civilization, they hate white males, they hate rationality. The reasons that leftists give for hating the West, etc. clearly do not correspond with their real motives. They SAY they hate the West because it is warlike, imperialistic, sexist, ethnocentric and so forth, but where these same faults appear in socialist countries or in primitive cultures, the leftist finds excuses for them, or at best he GRUDGINGLY admits that they exist; whereas he ENTHUSIASTICALLY points out (and often greatly exaggerates) these faults where they appear in Western civilization. Thus it is clear that these faults are not the leftist’s real motive for hating America and the West. He hates America and the West because they are strong and successful.” I hate to say it, but that murderous nutcase was onto something, wasn’t he?
The Dish 