I can predict that the historians will say that George W. Bush recognized the threats of the 21st century, clearly defined them, and had great faith in the capacity of liberty to transform hopelessness to hope, and laid the foundation for peace by making some awfully difficult decisions. ... When he needed to be tough, he acted strong, and when he needed to have vision he understood the power of freedom to be transformative.
"Transformative!" That's a big word. All the more surprising, then, that the source of this assessment of the Bush presidency wasn't some ivory tower shlemiel at the Hoover or Manhattan Institute, but (ta-da) Bush himself. Well, maybe not so very surprising. As Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post says, "The president sees himself as quite the heroic figure."
Bush can't seem to let go of self-adulation. He continues, using more Bush-like phrasing: "I would hope that they would say President Bush respects my religion and has great love for the human -- human being, and believes in human dignity."
Froomkin goes on to catalog Bush's utterances on Bush, calling him "delusional."
Here's Bush talking to Nadia Bilbassy-Charters of al-Arabiya TV:
Q. "People know that you are close friend of Israel. What do you want to do to win hearts and minds of the Palestinians, to assure them that the United States is a fair broker in the peace process?"
Bush: "You know, I've heard that. I've heard that, well, George Bush is so pro-Israeli he doesn't -- he can't possibly care about the plight of the Palestinian person. I would hope that my record, one of liberation and -- liberation, by the way, not only from dictatorship, but from disease around the world, like HIV/AIDS or malaria -- is one that will say to people, he cares about the human condition; that he cares about each individual; that my religion teaches me to love your neighbor."
He believes he has been badly misunderstood and compares himself, not for the first time, with Abraham Lincoln. Most of these Bush on Bush evaluations emerge from interviews with Arab and Israeli correspondents on the eve of the president's trip to the Middle East. Looks like he isn't fooling them interviewers, in spite of his enthusiasm for himself.
Warren P. Strobel writes for McClatchy Newspapers: "The official Arab view of Bush was summed up inadvertently by a diplomat from a major Arab state, who indicated disbelief that the president will use the trip to renew his drive for Middle East democracy.
"'Is that still on?' the Arab official replied sarcastically. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities."
In the Washington Times, Jon Ward and David R. Sands write: "Many Arab analysts see Mr. Bush as a lame-duck president lacking time and political clout at home and still distracted by the difficult military struggle in Iraq. With oil at nearly $100 a barrel, the U.S. economy faltering and Asia the dynamic new market for Gulf exports, Washington's economic clout is waning as well.
"Mr. Bush 'is captain of an administration that looks like a ship stuck in the mud of Iraq, in enormous internal economic problems, in an environmental impasse, and in unprecedented international controversies surrounding his leadership,' according to Hussein Shobokshi, TV commentator on the Al-Arabiya network.
