Inside The Mind Of George W. Bush

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Thus Bush said he was going to lead, and he has, mandates be damned. Members of his team came into office saying they wouldn't be day traders in the marketplace of ideas but would stick to first principles, and with a few conspicuous exceptions, they have. The economic landscape changed, but Bush's faith in tax cuts has not. When he did reverse course, on campaign-finance reform or creating the Department of Homeland Security, he did it so brazenly, without explanation or apology, that even caving was portrayed as an act of bold leadership. Above all, he has defended his decision to target Saddam Hussein even when some of the basic premises of the war turned out to be wrong. He has continued to argue that he has set Iraq on the path to democracy even when others say its future is so much in doubt.

THE SURPRISE PRESIDENCY

And yet for all that consistency, the Bush presidency has been one long surprise. A happy surprise for social conservatives, who thanked God that Little George was so unlike his father. They found in the son all the father's flaws removed, a standard bearer who spoke his mind, wore his faith on his sleeve; who didn't slice everything prosciutto-thin; who knew how to draw a line in the sand and stick to it. Smoke 'em out; dead or alive; you're with us or you're with the terrorists.

But it has been an enraging surprise for liberals who thought that, apart from all his moderate mood music four years ago, Bush would have no choice after a virtual tie election and with an evenly divided Congress but to govern from the center. In every campaign promise he has kept, they find one he has broken. "I don't think that we have had a President in recent memory who did such an about-face after getting elected," Senator Hillary Clinton tells TIME. All that compassionate-conservative talk, many Democrats decided, was just for show. He promised to restore trust to the office but even lied about that. "I can only conclude that he's a bait-and-switch politician," says Senator Clinton. "He campaigns on unity and changing the tone, and he has absolutely no intention of following through on any of that."