Meet the 'New Bush'

For instance, the president still seems to believe that he can send the press -- and the public -- into a state of collective amnesia, simply by changing his rhetoric.

Bush marveled that the voters hadn't endorsed his Iraq policies.

"Somehow it seeped in their conscious [sic] that my attitude was just simply 'stay the course,'" he complained.

See my October 27 column for video and excerpts from the more than 50 documented instances of Bush himself using that phrase to describe his approach -- back when he thought it made him look heroic.

Old Bush still thinks the voters just didn't get it: "I thought when it was all said and done, the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security."

It was New Bush who owned up to the public skepticism over his intention to act in a bipartisan manner -- New Bush who said action is more important than words.

"How do we convince Americans that we're able to do it?" he asked. "Do it. That's how you do it. You get something done. You actually sit down, work together, and I sign legislation that we all agree on. And my pledge today is I'll work hard to try to see if we can't get that done."

But it was Old Bush who insisted that his administration had already "made some progress on changing the tone" in Washington.

It was Old Bush who made it sound like Democrats are opposed to giving the government the tools it needs to protect the country. Democrats, of course, are in favor of the government having lots of tools -- just not certain ones they feel violate the Constitution, like torture and warrantless eavesdropping.

And it was Old Bush who diminished the clear message from the voters about Iraq. "I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made there," he said. "Yet I also believe most Americans and leaders here in Washington from both political parties understand we cannot accept defeat."

By contrast, most Americans and leaders seem to have concluded that there's no way to achieve victory in Iraq.

The Coverage

Michael A. Fletcher and Peter Baker write in The Washington Post about the "apparently chastened and conciliatory Bush. . . .