It is a privilege to spend 90 minutes with the president of the United
States. It is frustrating, though, when 90 percent of those minutes are
declared off the record.
President Bush likes it that way, because he gets to speak "frankly" without
worrying about how his remarks will be interpreted. Monday, in the
on-the-record part of an interview with a small group of newspaper and
magazine columnists, the president spoke of progress in Iraq: "I am pleased
that the initial skepticism is beginning to fade, to the point where (the)
king of Jordan is going to Iraq; Prime Minister Maliki is going to Abu
Dhabi; ambassadors are soon to be exchanged, hopefully."
The president thinks his commitment to stabilizing Iraq has boosted
confidence in other countries: "the region is beginning to recognize, after
a period of uncertainty, that a free Iraq is going to be important to their
futures - economic future and political future, because a free and
successful Iraq will end up serving as a pushback to Iranian movements in
the Middle East."
He is clearly pleased that funding for the war, which congressional
Democrats repeatedly tried to halt, has been approved and will last six
months into the new administration, which will allow the next president time
to assess progress and make his own decisions. He is equally pleased the
House has passed legislation protecting private phone companies who aid the
government in eavesdropping on calls to or from suspected terrorists
overseas. "Ša very important tool (in the war against terrorism) is to
listen," he said. He called on the Senate to pass it "expeditiously."
The president also reiterated his core philosophy since Sept. 11, 2001:
"This is a war that requires the United States to not wait to get attacked,
and therefore arrest people after the attack. It is a war that requires us
to be proactive and to prevent attacks." While he refuses to discuss
domestic politics, this sounded like a criticism of Barack Obama, who wants
to negotiate with America's terrorist enemies and thinks the legal system
can better handle terrorists after they have killed Americans.
Also on the record were the president's comments about the escalating cost
of gasoline. In an apparent jab at Congress, whose Democratic leaders
promised to do something about gas prices if given a majority, but have not,
the president said, "I would ask people to look at the report Vice President
Cheney did early on in this administration about our view of how we should
have dealt with this problem in a comprehensive way." That report included
references to the new technologies that allow for oil and gas exploration on
American territory and offshore that minimize any threats to the
environment.