The Disconnected President

"Bush used the bulk of his weekly radio platform to pressure Congress, once again, into approving legislation he says would help the sluggish economy rebound even more.

"Among his agenda for lawmakers: make permanent his first-term tax cuts, which are due to expire in 2010; allow drilling for oil in northern Alaska and encourage more oil refining capacity; and modernize the Federal Housing Administration to allow some additional homeowners to refinance from subprime loans into government-backed mortgages.

"The president has made such arguments for weeks, to no avail on Capitol Hill."

Loud and Clear!

In a pool report, Jim Gerstenzang of the Los Angeles Times described the scene Friday as Bush took a tour of World Wide Technology Inc., an IT company outside St. Louis: "We saw the president at two stops: the first was in a nearly empty room, where several hard-side molded plastic padded shipping containers were awaiting shipment with radios, among other gear, to National Guard units for use in emergencies. The president picked up one two-way radio, a worker held another unit, and the president shouted 'hello!' (Actually, he moved the unit away from his mouth and called out to the worker who was perhaps four feet away. The actual voice was loud and clear; so, too, the sound carried a micro-second later on the radio).

"The second stop was in a classroom with about 20 workers. He sat down at a laptop, which showed employees in Phoenix, Philadelphia, DC, Chicago, Dallas and, on one screen, the president (who was wearing glasses to look at the screen) facing the laptop. He told the Dallas worker: 'Tell everybody down there in about 10 months I'm coming home.'"

Actually, it's more like eight and a half months. But who's counting?

'I Guess I'll Go Home and Mow the Lawn'

Bush gave a short, newsless speech in the company's warehouse. Then he spent about an hour giving long-winded answers to a total of five questions from workers and invited Republican guests.

As is becoming more common, he did a lot of looking ahead and looking back -- not all of it entirely lucid.

Asked what his plans were after leaving the White House, he responded: "Thank you. Yes. I'm heading home. (Laughter.) I tell people that, first of all, it's been a huge honor to serve the country, and I'm really glad I did. . . .

"A couple of points on that. What's probably counterintuitive to you is that this has been a great experience for our family. I've lived in the White House now for seven and a half years, and the furniture is interesting -- (laughter) -- but it's like a museum. (Laughter.) . . .

"You know, obviously, there's some good days and some bad days. I feel so strongly about my principles and my values and I'm an optimistic guy; that what may appear to be really difficult to deal with -- like my buddies from Midland, Texas -- that for me it's just part of the job. Interestingly enough, it is a lot harder to have been the son of the President than to be the President. (Laughter.)

"And so it's been a joyous experience. You know, one of the great, really fun things we do is we welcome our pals from West Texas to the White House, and they come to the Oval Office, they're walking around; they say, man, I can't believe I'm here. And then they take a look at me -- (laughter.)