ONLY A FEW YEARS TOO LATE. Was just listening to Dana Perrino (I think) fend off questions from the White House press corps in advance of Bush vetoing the withdrawal bill. It's stunning how differently the press treats Bush's actions than they did a few years ago, how much less deference they offer his motives. In this case, the queries rapidly zeroed in on the distance between Bush's actions and the expressed preferences of the American people. With sizable majorities supporting timetables, how can he thwart the country's will? Perrino's response was to fall back on the old vision of Bush a strong, determined leader unswayed by polls and political shifts. That worked once upon a time, mainly when what he was bravely doing was also largely popular. In this context, it sounded tinny and undemocratic. The press corps kept pushing and Perrino kept dancing away, underscoring Bush's strong rejection of the popular, till some reporter finally exploded (and I'm vaguely paraphrasing here, as I didn't have a pen), "It's not about popularity! It's about the path the people want him to take!" Perrino was, for a second, silent. --Ezra Klein
