(15)
"Double You! Doublé Vay!"
As August turned into September, the President decided to take his New Attitude on the road. Hoping to capitalize on the overwhelmingly positive reaction overseas for his decision to abort the Iraq war, George W. Bush embarked on an eight-nation tour of Europe. Accompanying him on this trip was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Chief of Staff Andy Card, new National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and, among others, Mo Levison. The President, in spite of Levison's protestations, had convinced his friend to come along. Succumbing to the mounting political heat, President Bush had reluctantly parted company with his Bronx-born Rasputin earlier in the year. But George W. Bush couldn't resist sharing his moment of triumph with the person who was at least partially responsible for this surprising turn of events. The President was also hoping to use his newfound popularity to prod reluctant European NATO allies into greater military participation in Afghanistan, and to sign on to his Middle East peace initiative.
In every city he visited, the reaction for George W. Bush was the same: large, adoring crowds not seen for an American president since the glory days of John and Jackie Kennedy. In London, where the ironically named Blair-Bush Peace Plan had been a smashing public success, the shout was "Double-You! Double-You!" wherever the President and Prime Minister Blair made joint appearances. In Paris, it was "Doublé-Vay! Doublé Vay!" and very public kisses on the cheeks from his new best friend, Jacques Chirac. In Germany, it was something unpronounceable that sounded like "Vulva-voom," but the sentiment was unmistakable. The three European countries that, along with Russia, had suffered the most from war in the 20th century were embracing the American president who had the courage to halt another conflict before it started. Wherever the President went, he was heroically received as The Man Who Stopped the War. Crusty old White House reporters like Helen Thomas were quite moved by the affection that greeted President Bush at every stop. An ailing Pope John Paul II insisted on appearing with George W. Bush in front of an estimated 200,000 people crammed into St. Peter's Square to honor and cheer the two men of peace.
There were the predictable couple of gaffes: in a speech before the Polish National Assembly, the President got his famous Polish-Americans mixed up in an anecdote about his childhood passion for baseball, confusing Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, with Ted Kluszewski, the 1950s-era slugging first baseman. In Slovakia, President Bush, speaking before the National Council of the Slovak Republic, told the august body that he was proud to be the first United States president to visit Slovenia. Other than that, the trip was a rousing success.
George W. Bush was deeply affected by this outpouring of emotion. It seemed to validate his decision to halt the war in a way that being in Washington, D.C. never would. What was most satisfying was the reception he was receiving from Europe's growing Muslim minority. In city after city the crowds were liberally sprinkled with Islamic immigrants who seemed to be cheering the loudest. This also convinced him to redouble his efforts at jump-starting the Middle East peace talks while his international stock was high. It is human nature to lean into the wind of positive encouragement and validation, and the President was especially sensitive to this validation because of the wonderfully strange way that he had come to make such a momentous decision as stopping a war on the eve of its beginning. The truth of his prophetic visions was a tightly held secret that, if uncovered or revealed, would surely brand George W. Bush as a madman. But he knew better.
Mo Levison was glad he made the trip. He finally saw his post-9/11 purpose in life–it really hadn't dawned on him when he was in the middle of it–but he truly had been an important force for peace at the highest possible level. He understood that he was only a part, but seeing the enormous outpouring of honest gratitude from the peoples of Europe gave him one of the signature thrills of his life, and filled him with an equal amount of gratitude in turn for his friend, the President. Stubborn, impetuous George W. Bush, who hadn't given him the chance to refuse coming to Camp David, who had buried their five-year rift with barely a word, who had insisted on his staying close despite the political cost to his presidency, and who had allowed this Jewish, left-leaning "cause junkie" to expound his beliefs with complete candor and freedom. He now had been part of one of the greatest "causes" of his life–stopping a war.
On Air Force One going home, the mood was light and relaxed. Everyone was telling stories and laughing. In what appeared to be a pre-arranged bit, the President, nursing a non-alcoholic Buckler while doing a crossword puzzle, looked up at Mo Levison with pencil in hand and said, "Hey, Dick–what's a six-letter word for arrogance?"
Levison lowered his jaw, puffed out his cheeks, and replied in a low monotone, "Simply stated, in my mind, to the best of my knowledge, frankly speaking, in point of fact, that would be hubris, Mr. President."
The plane erupted in laughter, as both men were spot-on mimics.
"Don, you wanna take a crack at this one? What's a six-letter word for arrogance?"
Levison borrowed a pair of glasses from a staffer, and, hunching his shoulders, turning his whole body along with his neck, transformed into the former Secretary of Defense. "Arrogance? If we knew the answer to that, by golly, we'd be sitting pretty, mister. Why is there this need for arrogance? Why when hubris is so much shorter, lighter, compact? And why do I always talk in rhetorical questions? I dunno!"
By this time, most of the staff, and the President, were in tears.
"Do your dad, Mr. President!" cried a young staffer.
"Yeah! Bravo! Do it!" The people collapsed into a cheer of "41! 41! 41!" until the President slowly rose from his seat, put down his beer, and in his best Dana Carvey imitation said,"Nah...nah...not gonna do it." Everyone cheered. "Wouldn't be prudent..." The Son had obviously watched a lot of Dana Carvey. "Bushes aren't arrogant. No hubris." The first two fingers on each hand were really flailing away now. "Ya know, Bar and I, heh heh heh, raise our kids...little Georgie...Jebbie, Neil, Marv, and precious little Doro...." The President let that one hang out in the air for emphasis, as laughter filled the cabin. "...to be givers, not takers. No Bush takers."
With that the President took a quick bow to great cheering, and sat back down to his Buckler and his puzzle.
***
George W. Bush returned to one of the more unusual political situations in modern American history. Overall, the country seemed to like his dramatic foreign policy shift. Polls showed that he was scoring high on his handling of the War on Terror, especially among Democrats, Independents, and moderate Republicans. Conservative Republicans, however, who were considered his base and were extremely important to his reelection chances, were pummeling him in poll after poll. The result was a president who was becoming more popular with the opposite party than he was with his own! The problem for this President was that he didn't seem to inspire the same amount of love from the opposition when it came to his domestic policies. He was still, after all, a conservative at heart. This situation was setting up a very tricky path for George W. Bush as he navigated his way towards the 2004 election.
Asked at a news conference about his odd, inverted poll numbers, the President seemed unconcerned, even glib. "I wasn't concerned with the polls when they were against us going into Iraq, and I can't be concerned with them now. I hope, uh, that the majority of Conservatives in this country, of whom I count myself as one, come to understand and appreciate, uh, the wisdom of my actions concerning Iraq as it relates to the larger War on Terror, and that I did what I did out of concern for needless American casualties, and to keep our eye on the ball in Afghanistan. Let me just say that we continue to monitor the situation in Iraq very closely, and, uh, I think the dictator there would be very wise to understand clearly that we haven't forgotten about him, not for a minute. And I wanna add that the Muslim populations that came out in Europe were very positive. I talked with several people from the Islamic faith over there who were grateful that we pulled back. Without exception, every one of them said this would help the cause of peace—would help, you know, our fight against the extremists."
The President was also asked about North Korea and its dictator, Kim il-Sung. The megalomaniacal Kim seemed to be doing everything in his power to get the United States to pay attention to him and his pariah nation, bragging about his country's nuclear weapons, and shooting off missiles into the Sea of Japan. He did make the "Axis of Evil," which was trumpeted as the greatest single achievement in North Korean history since the invasion of South Korea in 1950. At first, the Axis of Evil designation seemed to be a boon to North Korea among its fellow rogue states, as there was much grumbling and gnashing of teeth from those who were left out. But it soon became apparent to Kim and his countrymen that the designation was a paper tiger, a mere rhetorical flourish. Despite provocation after provocation, the North Korean dictator could rouse no more than a distracted warning from the mighty United States, and even then, it was done by an Under-Secretary of Defense, or the Deputy Press Secretary. Kim's latest desperate move for attention was to reveal his plans for a full-scale invasion of the United States. He called on the North Korean people to sacrifice everything they had (which, admittedly, was not much more than a bowl of rice and a couple of candles) in this heroic bid for legitimacy. The one thing Kim didn't have, however, was oil, which unfortunately lowered his position on the depth chart of US foreign policy problems. Nonetheless, a crazy dictator with nukes and concrete plans to invade the US was cause for a couple of questions at the President's news conference.
"Mr. President, what do you make of Kim il-Sung's threat to invade the United States?"
"Hmmm... he's gotta go through California first, doesn't he? Let's send the USC Trojan's defensive squad after 'em. That oughta stop him right in his tracks," replied George W. Bush with a wink to a chorus of laughs. This lack of respect was driving Kim crazy, but unless he suddenly pulled a "Jed Clampett" and found some "bubblin' crude" hiding underneath a North Korean rock, his quest to be a certifiable "A" list enemy of the United States was likely to remain frustrated.
There were several questions having to do with the defections of the neo-cons from his administration, the latest being political guru Karl Rove, who resigned while the President was in Europe. While not officially a neo-con, Rove supported many of their policies and views, and his resignation was yet another indication of the enormous shift in the ideology of the administration. It also cast a longer shadow over George W. Bush's re-election chances. It was well understood that Rove was the architect of the President's victory in 2000, as well as his gubernatorial victory in Texas, and his loss was considered a crucial blow, especially considering Rove and many of the defecting neo-cons were rumored to be coalescing around the unannounced challenger, Newt Gingrich. The President was asked about Gingrich, and Rove, and once again how he felt about the discontent fomenting into a challenge from within his own party.
"I'm not gonna lie to ya and say that I'm not gonna miss Karl. Karl Rove was a big part of my campaigns and a valuable member of this administration. Speaker Gingrich is a fine man, and we probably agree on a heckuva lot more things than we disagree on. I'm not gonna speculate on something that hasn't happened yet, so we'll have to cross that bridge when the horse is out of the barn. I just think there is an honest disagreement amongst intelligent people, and that's okay. That's America, that's the process of democracy."
The President didn't have to wait long to find out the former Speaker's intentions. On September 15th, Newt Gingrich announced that he was challenging President George W. Bush for the 2004 Republican nomination. The news had already been leaked (to the former Vice President's annoyance) that Gingrich and Dick Cheney were forming a third party, and the announcement to challenge President Bush in the Republican primaries was largely seen as a cover until the party was up and running. Although not unexpected by Washington insiders, this was still stunning news to most of the American people.
"The Conservatives in America have been betrayed by a lamb in wolf's clothing," said the blunt ex-Speaker. "The President of the United States brought the American people to the wedding bed of glory, and then suffered severe erectile dysfunction. This coddling of the defeatists, the peaceniks, the appeasers, the losers, the elitists, the gays and lesbians, the Eurosocialists, and UN {spit} lovers makes me wonder if this is really the same person we elected president just three short years ago. He looks remarkably like the same man. He sounds like the same man. Same mismanagement of the English language.
"Sure, the Europeans are fawning all over him, just like they did Neville Chamberlain in 1938. Those people always want to take the easy way out. It's fun to march in the streets for peace when you have the greatest military machine in the history of the world ready to bail your sorry rear ends out of trouble every time you find yourselves inconvenienced. Maybe the next time they have a war over there we should let them all kill each other and then we could use the land for more parking. But I digress. This President has made a mockery of the memory of the victims of 9/11 by using the power of his office to promote peace. Peace! We had peace! Peace got 3,000 Americans killed. I intend to take America back to its rightful place at the head of the world's table, the sole superpower in a unipolar world, not just for the immediate future, but for the next thousand years!" And with that bit of Germanic rhetoric, the battle was officially joined.
The Democrats, knocked wobbly by the Bush decision to stop the war before it started, were flailing around in search of a coherent strategy. They agreed with Bush's move, as he had done almost exactly what key Democrats had been calling on him to do, which took the legs out from under their anti-war agenda. Newt Gingrich's entry into the race, trumping the issue of National Security, took away the tactic of accusing the President of being too soft on Defense. They were forced, by default, to concentrate almost entirely on domestic issues. The early front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 2004 was Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, a humorless, patrician man that no one seemed particularly enthusiastic about. Former Vice President Al Gore was consistently adamant in his eschewing another run at the White House, and was reportedly squirreled away, editing a film about the environment. The Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, was organizing his long-shot effort around a grassroots Internet campaign that few were taking seriously, while the junior Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was looking towards 2008 for her presidential run.
In a development that would have been unthinkable mere months before, it appeared that George W. Bush was indeed on the short list to win the Nobel Peace Prize. London bookmakers were placing his odds at 3:2. There simply was nothing or no one in the world to match his unprecedented unilateral turn away from war. However, the way in which his nomination came about reveals another moment of supreme irony in a story full of fascinating ironic twists.
Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize are sent to qualified nominators in September of the year before the actual December awarding of the prize, in this case, September of 2002. So in the President's case, he was nominated by someone (the nominators are kept secret) for his efforts leading up to the war with Iraq–most likely someone from a conservative think tank, or someone with strong neo-conservative credentials putting their chief spokesman up for the award for their pet project to remake the world. The nominations are closed in February. There was no way that anyone nominating the President for the Nobel Peace Prize would have known what he shortly thereafter intended to do. George W. Bush stopped the Iraq War in March of 2003. The Nobel Committee and its advisors mull over the candidates from March until August, and then at the beginning of October, the Nobel laureate is announced.
On October 3rd, the Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, chose President George W. Bush as its Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for 2003, citing his courageous decision to halt the War in Iraq on the eve of its commencement. A statement released by the committee read, in part, "Never in the history of the award has a world leader used his position of power in such a unique and unilateral way to stop the inevitable destruction and casualties caused by war. For this, President George W. Bush of the United States of America is a most worthy recipient of the Nobel Peace prize." The President, in brief remarks in the Rose Garden, dedicated the award to the victims of 9/11 and their families. "This certainly is a great honor, and I wanna thank the members of the Nobel Committee. But our job to make the world safe for freedom isn't anywhere near over, and I promise to work even harder in the future to ensure that all peoples have the same opportunities for peace."
Not surprisingly, the Hard Right was treating the award like the Soviet Order of Lenin. Rush Limbaugh weighed in with, "I don't know about you, folks, but they can keep any prize that as been awarded to, among others, Yassir Arafat and Amnesty International. Next thing you know they'll be giving it to Al Gore and his loony global warming environmental wacko buddies! Remember you heard it here first, folks." Michael Savage had similar thoughts. "The Nobel Prize has gone into the same toilet with the rest of the international organizations–it's just another left-wing schmooze club patting each other on the back for keeping Norway in the news at least once a year." Bill O'Reilly screamed, "They gave the thing to the appeaser Jimmy Carter last year, and they're giving it to the appeaser George Bush this year. Why is anyone surprised?!? " And presidential candidate Newt Gingrich couldn't resist adding his two cents. "It's a Socialist award given out by a Socialist committee in a Socialist country to mainly Socialists and Communists. I mean, c'mon, they gave the thing one year to the International Labour Association, for cryin' out loud! Not to mention the Socialist Willy Brandt and the Communist Mikhail Gorbachev. So let's not go overboard in our praise for a president who has done more to damage the cause of peace in the last nine months than any president since World War II."
***
In New York, Hans Blix and Dr. Mohammad el-Baradei gave their final report on the status of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The finding confirmed what many people around the world seemed to already know: there were no WMDs in Iraq. It turned out that the Great Fluoride Scare was a hoax. After confiscating nearly seventeen million tubes of toothpaste, the United Nations team discovered that Iraqis had been brushing their teeth with baking soda.
The atmosphere inside the UN Security Council chambers was tense as Hans Blix made his way into the room and sat down before the Council. Blix looked like a man not to be trifled with, his voice strong and steady, his eyes like twin laser beams. "We believe that we can safely conclude that every tube of toothpaste in Iraq has been tested. The discrepancy in the number of tested tubes of toothpaste and the overall population of Iraq can be explained by the uncomfortable fact that a significant portion of the Iraqi population does not brush their teeth. However, in regards to those who do, we found no evidence of fluoride in any of the tubes that we tested, or in the water at any of our test sites." There was a discernible buzz in the room as the crowd of diplomats and journalists digested this startling news. "As a matter of fact, we recommended to the Iraqi government that they might want to look into this lack of fluoridation, as it is a well known fact that four out of five dentists prefer fluoride in their toothpaste. Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that Saddam Hussein has been playing a giant shell game not only with the people of the world, but with his own people's dental future. He and his scientists and henchmen have been filling empty tubes of Crest, Colgate, and Aquafresh toothpaste with baking soda. We can only speculate as to his motive, and it is not in my purview to do so. It is safe to say, though, that the world can sleep easier tonight knowing that there is one less country possessing WMDs. Thank you." Once again the room buzzed, cameras flashed, and television newscasters debated the significance of this much anticipated report.
It was Mohammad el-Baradei's turn next. More scholarly and solemn than the voluble Swede, the Egyptian diplomat stunned the room by declaring that he knew where the nuclear weapons were. This statement seemed in direct contradiction with his colleague Dr. Blix, and the normally staid room full of ambassadors and newspeople stirred with anticipation. The President of the Security Council, which in November of 2003 had rotated to the nation of Angola and its ambassador, Ishmael A. Gasper Martins, tried to maintain a sense of order in the charged atmosphere. "Order, please. Dr. el-Baradei, are you telling the Council that you have found evidence of nuclear activity?"
"Yes, Mr. President, we have," answered the slightly-built, mustachioed Egyptian to gasps and whispers from the assembled crowd.
"Order, please! Please, ladies and gentlemen—please refrain from such outbursts during the testimony of our esteemed colleague. Dr. El-Baradei, please continue."
Mohammad el-Baradei calmly took a sip of water from the glass next to his nameplate and then slowly cleared his throat. "Our painstaking research has uncovered incontrovertible evidence of over two hundred fully operational nuclear bombs, missiles and warheads...IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL!"
This was clearly one of world's worst kept secrets, but no official diplomat, certainly not the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had ever uttered this well-known fact in public. And coming from the mouth of an Egyptian, it was almost too much to conceive.
"Order!" cried Gasper Martins, but it was no use, as the Security Council chambers erupted in howls of invective hurled from one end of the room to the other. Diplomats were now standing and pointing fingers at one another. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, jumped up from his seat, hurtled over three tables, and was on the verge of pummeling the Egyptian el-Baradei when the plucky Swede Hans Blix threw his left shoulder full-on into Gillerman and knocked him straight back into the lap of the Syrian ambassador, Fayssal Mekdad, sending both of them sprawling onto the floor. The two diplomats rolled across the chamber floor, locked in a brutal ballet, clawing and biting each other as representatives of enemy nations could only do.
"THE STATE OF ISRAEL..." yelled El-Baradei above the rising clamor, "THE STATE OF ISRAEL IS THE ONE AND ONLY POSSESSOR OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST!!" El-Baradei, oblivious to the commotion occurring just in front of him, was determined to finish his statement.
"We must have order!! This will not be tolerated!!" shouted Gasper Martins as a chair went sailing just past his left ear. The chamber had erupted into a scene out of a bar in Tombstone, Arizona, circa 1886, as diplomats, peacemakers, and Nobel Prize winners threw chairs at one another and engaged in vicious hand-to-hand combat.
"I WAS SENT ON A WILD GOOSE CHASE IN IRAQ WHEN IT IS ISRAEL WHO CAN BLOW UP THE MIDDLE EAST TEN TIMES OV–"
A satellite phone to the right temple suddenly silenced el-Baradei, who crumpled in a heap under the table. The security guards on hand were no match for the enraged diplomats, and it was a full ten minutes before a New York City SWAT team entered the room and was able quell the violence. Despite broken bones, split lips, concussions, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to the Security Council chambers, the NYPD was unable to make a single arrest because everyone in the room had diplomatic immunity. The session ended with a resolution striking Mohammed el-Baradei's testimony from the official record, passed 1-0 with fourteen abstentions, by the only uninjured Security Council member still present and able to speak, Bulgarian ambassador Vitaly Bulchkin.
Reaction to the "Dust-up at the UN" was swift and predictably polarized. Reached at his ranch in New Mexico, Donald Rumsfeld had this to say: "I would have to ask how they would know something that we kind of knew but didn't know know when we know more about what they know than they do?" From his underground lair deep in the mountains of Wyoming, former Vice President Dick Cheney issued a statement: "Assuming hypothetically that this information is true, which, frankly, given the source, is a highly dubious assumption, it would, in my mind, merely point out the fact that the nation of Israel has every right to defend itself against the hordes of enemies massing on all sides of her borders. The role of the United States in this matter should be to vigorously defend her interests in the region by any and all means necessary, including the removal of all impediments to the cause of peace as defined by the United States government. Unfortunately, the current administration, frankly, has taken the coward's route of appeasement. I would only add that the United Nations {spit} has proven once again that it is, in fact, beyond contempt and should be swiftly and mercilessly abolished."
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza reacted to the news that over two hundred nuclear weapons were pointed in their general direction by hurling yet more rocks at Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers and sending teenaged boys and girls to blow themselves up at Israeli birthday parties and discos, which gave friends and allies of Israel further ammunition to justify the deployment of such a vast arsenal in the powder keg that is the Middle East.
Yet another vindication of George W. Bush's decision not to attack Iraq should have left the President feeling confident and energized as he headed to Crawford, Texas for Thanksgiving. After doing his presidential duty in pardoning the annual lucky turkey, President Bush, accompanied by his wife Laura and his twin daughters Barbara and Jenna, hopped aboard Air Force One and flew to his ranch. The President's mood was complicated by what lay ahead. Looming just around the holiday corner was the beginning of the 2004 election season. For his challengers, it had already begun. George W. Bush could only take ironic solace in the fact that if he were running for leader of almost any nation in the world other than his own, he would win in a landslide. His foreign poll numbers were still off the charts. He could have spent the rest of his presidency, arguably the rest of his life, being fêted all over the world, but in the United States his situation was far more complex. Here, he was about to fight a political war on two fronts, and he was facing this prospect not only without his top general, Karl Rove, but also with the devastating knowledge that Rove would be allied with one of his enemies, Newt Gingrich. This left the President feeling something akin to dread in slow motion, as if he was a passenger on the Titanic leaving Southampton with foreknowledge of its sinking, but no way off the ship.
The President's optimistic, what-me-worry disposition was under uncomfortable strain. Those closest to him, his wife, his daughters, and his aides, sensed this unusual lack of bull-headed confidence. It manifested itself in several ways that holiday season. He was pensive and brooding, two words that had never been used before when speaking of George W. Bush. He personally chopped six cords of wood that late November week, a prodigious amount for Paul Bunyan, not to mention the President of the United States. All the while he kept turning the problem over and over in his head: he was the leader of a Republican Party that didn't seem to want him to be the President again. But it wasn't even that simple. There were many rank-and-file Republicans, the blue-bloods, the high-church Eastern conservatives, and the more moderate branch of the party, who had swung around to him and were solidly in his camp for 2004. The problem for the President was that these folks were not the movers and shakers of the Republican Party any more. His base, the meat-and-potatoes coalition of evangelical Christians, angry white males, and everybody else who had actually bought into the fear-mongering of Dick Cheney and the rest of the neo-conservatives, were deserting him in droves and casting their lot with Newt Gingrich. Polls released in mid-November showed Gingrich leading the President among likely 2004 Republican voters by a whopping 52 to 29%. Interestingly, the former Vice President was third with 17%, although no one actually believed he would run.
George W. Bush was most disappointed with the evangelical Christians. His positive rating among evangelicals had sunk to 22%, with most of the damage seemingly due to the way he had halted the war with Iraq. Analysts laid much of the blame for this on the incredible popularity of the Left Behind franchise, written by Tim LaHaye. The books alone sold over 65 million copies, and had spawned a children's spin-off, a young adult version, movies, video games, and a Dove award-winning CD. All told, there were many, many millions of Christians who were now disappointed that real life wasn't turning out the way the books said it would. The coming war in Iraq had offered the perfect scenario to have life imitate art, complete with a Babylonian antichrist, slaughter, destruction, and mayhem across the globe, culminating in a final battle over Jerusalem. But George W. Bush had completely ruined this by imprudently calling the opening gambit off, thus raising the painful suggestion that these books might not be 100% true. However, most evangelical pastors had rushed to LaHaye's defense by chastising the President as a Fallen Man, seduced by the Devil and his minions on earth–the liberals, the traitors, and the sodomists–while cleverly deducing that the prophecy of Tim LaHaye was only delayed, not ruined, and leading their flocks straight into the open, loving arms of Newt Gingrich. Never mind that the former Speaker was twice divorced and on wife number three, had been accused of having multiple affairs and shady business dealings, and at that point, had nothing but casual relations with evangelical Christianity. Many conservative ministers, who gorged themselves on a steady diet of Rush Limbaugh by day, and a pig's trough of FoxNews by night, were now convinced that only Gingrich could get the Armageddon-Rapture train so poignantly piloted by Lahaye back on track.
The President, although shielded from the finer details of this discontent by the bubble that covers all presidents, knew about the large Christian defection, and it hurt. Chopping log after log, sweating vigorously even in the mild late-November temperatures of middle Texas, he turned this unpleasant fact over and over in his mind. He, a born-again Christian, had had what he perceived as a vision from God through his dreams, and, following God's lead, had done what he thought was best. He had committed an act of peace, something that he thought all Christians would be for. Around the world, in places with people of all different faiths, and in the case of Europe, of waning faith, he was a hero. They got it. It was only in America, and especially with people that he considered his own, that these very same Christians were abandoning him.
So, if he had lost his base, what was he to do? Find a new one? Turn into an Independent? These thoughts made the President chuckle through his sweat and solitude. The underlying question that he was afraid to face but had to be addressed was, did he still want to be President? Badly enough to do what it was going to take to win? The conversation with Mo Levison almost one year ago to the day came racing back into his mind. What if doing the right thing meant not being President? Was he okay with that? Was his ego okay with that? Could he possibly do more to help the cause of peace outside the White House? That question seemed absurd on the face of it, but really, it wasn't. To get re-elected, he was going to have to make compromises with someone, some group, some...thing, to serve four more years. As a private citizen, he didn't have to worry about that. As President, all the favorable goodwill and popularity that he had garnered around the world meant very little in the United States, and almost worked against him in his own party. As a private citizen, he could use his popularity throughout the world as a bully pulpit to promote the idea of peace, free from what it would mean to his domestic agenda, or poll numbers. The idea was growing on him.
Then there was the pragmatic consideration. Could he possibly hope to win an election fighting a formidable opponent on the right of him, and the Democratic nominee on the left? Wasn't this, in effect, handing the election to the Democrats? The President couldn't work out a way that it wasn't. And yet...he couldn't just walk away. Could he? Wouldn't be prudent, thought George W. Bush, amusing himself by conjuring up his father. The most remarkable thing of all was that he was even thinking about walking away from the presidency. How outrageous! No. He couldn't do that. He would have to at least make the effort to be re-elected. He had to admit, though, that the prospect of losing less than a year from that date in late November didn't conjure up bad feelings. It actually was kind of appealing.
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