Losing the Script and Finding His Voice

The transformation began in December when Bush started giving what aides considered "realistic" speeches about Iraq, took audience questions and appeared on camera nearly every weekday. He has been emphasizing humor, telling a woman in Kansas, "I couldn't hear the question, so I'll put the words in your mouth." The President was enjoying himself so much, he had no idea he had taken 13 questions from the audience, throwing off his tight schedule.

As Bush began sounding sharper and feeling better, friends said, he began to look ahead, conscious of the 2009 finish line. In Kansas he told the soldiers and students to pray, exercise and "be optimistic." He choked up talking about the First Lady, made a rare reference to his twins ("The girls still love me") and called Barney the Scottish terrier "the son I never had." He has been reading When Trumpets Call, about Theodore Roosevelt's life after the White House. Aides insist, however, that this President, as an ex, will not go on safari or write opinion articles tormenting his successors.