KNOW THYSELF

Master of low expectations scores some points (TOM RAUM, June 7, 2003, Associated Press)

While British Prime Minister Tony Blair has taken a pounding on the Iraq war, President Bush has worked to harvest a political dividend from it, hoping to help brush aside deepening questions over deposed President Saddam Hussein's arms programs.

The war's outcome changed the dynamics and the thinking of leaders in the Middle East, which offered Bush an opportunity to seize the moment and step up his involvement in trying to forge a comprehensive peace between the Israelis and the Arabs.

Thus Bush became the toiling peacemaker in a week that found Blair on the defensive and under investigation by Parliament over the veracity of prewar claims about Saddam's still-unfound arsenal.

During a seven-day trip to Europe and the Middle East, Bush cemented ties with Eastern European nations allied with the United States against Iraq, mended fences with Russia and China and put into play the most far-reaching Middle East peace initiative of his presidency.

Exuberant on the way home, Bush even had Air Force One fly directly over Iraq's capital as he pointed out landmarks to aides.

"I'm the master of low expectations," he had told reporters traveling with him on the trip.

Understanding yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, and how people perceive you is a a far rarer form of intelligence than Bill Clinton's ability to remember the minutiae of public policy. It is no surprise that the three recent presidents who've had this understanding have been fabulously successful--Eisenhower, Reagan, Bush II--while those who've shared Clinton's ability--JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Bush I--have uniformly been disastrous. It was this understanding v. ability dichotomy, more than anything else, that separated George W. Bush from Al Gore and the proof is in the pudding. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 7, 2003 8:00 PM