Where the President Isn't

"Because of that format we had, it was tough to get a train of thought going and then follow up because you're waiting to get in the next motorcade. But a very interesting day with him to see him interact. . . .

"MATTHEWS: It's going to be very interesting to watch this new development and watching the president come out of, whether it's a bubble or a cocoon or an imaginary line that we are thinking about here. But if he's out to meet the press, it's all the better for the country, I think."

Helping With the Bubble?

Williams asked Bush several questions about the protective bubble in which he operates. So why did the NBC anchor then build one for the president himself?

Williams said that while tagging along with the president he could hear protesters outside the Philadelphia hotel where Bush was speaking yelling "Shame! Shame!"

The third part of the interview took place in that very hotel. And Williams revealed to Matthews: "Something I haven't said before is, to dampen the noise outside the hotel because of the floor we were on, we had mattresses that our production crew had put up against the windows and curtains on the other side, because we had to conduct this interview."

A Presser in the Works?

ABC News's The Note writes that Bush has an interview today with Fox News's Brit Hume, and then speculates:

"The election in Iraq is Thursday and the White House press corps holiday party is that night. It's a very Bartlett/Wallace move to liquor the press up, ply them with lamb chops, and then give them two hours Notice to prepare questions for a presidential news conference. So consider this, White House press corps, your forty-eight hour Notice.

"If you combine the President's habits of having press conference: (a) after some good news and (b) before he leaves for vacation, there's a better than even chance that he will hold a press conference on Friday, according to Jimmy the Greek and ABC News' odds-maker Karen Travers."

Adjusting?

Linda Feldmann writes in the Christian Science Monitor: "Under the klieg lights of a prime-time press conference, George W. Bush once famously could not recall any mistakes he had made as president. To his critics, the April 2004 moment cemented the notion that he is unreflective about his policies, an immovable object in the face of facts.

"The reality, however, is different - as demonstrated by a wave of developments. Most striking has been his series of speeches on Iraq in the run-up to Thursday's elections there, culminating in Wednesday's fourth and final address. The M-word - mistake - is still not a part of his vocabulary, but the word 'adjust' is, and is now sprinkled throughout his speeches. . . .

"Throughout Washington there are other signs of course correction. . . .

"One question hovering over this burgeoning image of tactical flexibility is where Vice President Cheney fits in. It is he, some analysts say, who has been the true immovable object of the Bush White House, not the president. While Bush's Iraq rhetoric has shifted, Mr. Cheney's hasn't. It may be that, after five years in office, the president is less reliant on Cheney - especially after it was revealed that he played a role in the embarrassing Valerie Plame scandal, in which the identity of a CIA operative was leaked to the press."