The Gist

Bush: Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America? Or do they just hate me?


A page one Washington Post piece today reports that Bush is bringing academics and historians into meetings and asking them what went wrong with his presidency. But there's no sense that he is seriously concerned, still deluding himself, still on a relgious crusade, and shutting out the media, the critics and anyone who might challenge him. Said a senior House Republican who recently met with him: "There's nobody there who can stand up to him and tell him, 'Mr. President, you've got to do this. You're wrong on this.' There's no adult supervision. It's like he's oblivious. Maybe that's a defense mechanism."

The piece also points out that Bush has had approval numbers lower than 50% longer than any modern president. Yes, including Nixon.