Change Of Course?

"Q How long will --

"PRESIDENT BUSH: This is Mr. Accommodator -- (laughter) -- Mr. Reaching Out. Yes."

But don't get too excited. It may have been "Mr. Accommodator" who grudgingly allowed Riechmann a follow-up; but it was the same old "Mr. Dismissive" who responded to the question:

"Q You said you'd have to reassess with the new government these various things. How long do you think that that assessment is going to take?

"PRESIDENT BUSH: See, part of the issue I deal with is people want to know with certainty when certain things are going to happen --

"Q Just about --

"PRESIDENT BUSH: -- and I understand that; it's a legitimate question. It's like, when are you going to withdraw troops? And the answer is, when conditions on the ground --

"Q I didn't ask that.

"PRESIDENT BUSH: No, I know, but I -- you asked the question, I answer them."

About Camp David

Gee, maybe Bush should have called everyone to Camp David years ago.

Here he is describing the advantages at his Friday press availability : "I felt that Camp David is a good place to do it because it can be distracting down in Washington -- with phone calls, and all those kinds of -- we can make sure the people involved in senior levels of government stay focused on the task at hand."

Ron Hutcheson writes for Knight Ridder Newspapers: "In 1977, Jimmy Carter used the isolation of Camp David to nudge Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin toward a peace agreement that led to a Nobel Prize for Carter's guests.