Bush Talks About the Bubble

In a rare, one-on-one interview with President Bush this morning, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams showed the president the latest Newsweek cover , which depicts Bush trapped inside a big soap bubble, and asked if it's true that he's out of touch.

Williams had promised on the Today Show earlier to ask about the Bush bubble and, amazingly enough, we didn't have to wait long to find out the president's answer. Not only is Williams blogging about his day -- which will actually include three different meetings with the president -- but he's already posted a two-minute video excerpt from the first interview, in which he and Bush are standing in the Oval Office. The president notes that he talks to a lot of people, but doesn't read newsweeklies.

Williams: "How do you wake up on a Monday morning -- I brought some visual aids, I have Newsweek and Time -- the cover of Newsweek, look what they've done to you. ' Bush's World; The Isolated President: Can He Change? '"

Bush chuckles.

Williams: "And inside Time, it says: ' Bush's Search for His New Groove .' Time Magazine says you're out there talking to people, and Newsweek says you're in here not talking to people. So what is the truth, Mr. President?"

Bush: "Well, I'm talking to you. You're a person."

Williams: "This says you're in a bubble, you have a very small circle of advisers now."

Bush: "Yeah."

Williams: "Is that true?"

Bush: "Uh."

Williams. "Do you feel in a bubble?"

Bush: "No, I don't feel in a bubble. I mean, you feel in a bubble in the sense that I can't go walking out the front gate and go shopping, like I'd love to do for my wife -- although I'm a man, I'm not going to tell you what I'm gonna buy her."