AMBLING ABOVE HISTORY:

Bush Seems to Hit His News Conference Stride: An upbeat president, who aides say wants to face reporters at least once a month, insists that history will validate his political decisions. (Peter Wallsten, March 17, 2005, LA Times)

Looking beyond immediate problems, the president suggested that — in domestic policy, but even more in his sweeping effort to foster democracy in the Middle East — he had launched such historic initiatives that only time could judge him.

Even George Washington's place in history is continually reexamined, Bush said.

"People are constantly evaluating somebody's standing in history, a president's standing in history, based upon events that took place during the presidency, based upon things that happened after the presidency, based upon — like in my case, hopefully, the march of freedom continues way after my presidency," he said. "And so I just don't worry about vindication or standing.

"The other thing, it turns out, in this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis; you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, 'How do you think my standing will be?' " he said.

"I've got a lot to do. And I like to make decisions, and I make a lot of them."

Commenting on Bush's buoyant performance, Whit Ayers, a Republican pollster, said, "He seems to have a real inner confidence that he is on the right side of history, and that history will judge him to be so."

Ayers added: "He's been through a lot, and on some of the more controversial decisions, like the decision to go into Iraq, events now make that decision look far wiser than they did at the turn of the year."

That sentiment has been echoed in recent days by White House advisors and allies, who say Bush is ebullient.

One manifestation of this is the president's increasing eagerness to take his ideas to the country through the give-and-take of full-scale news conferences.

Aides said Wednesday that Bush intended to continue making at least one such appearance a month. "He wants to do more press conferences," said Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary.

Despite lagging public and congressional support for Bush's effort to transform Social Security, White House strategists insist that is temporary. And the president's upbeat mood Wednesday underscored that the administration claimed victories on other fronts.