What Now?

The last time Bush spoke at length about that morning was in the middle of the 2004 election, after Michael Moore’s flame-throwing movie “Fahrenheit 9/11” and John Kerry’s criticism of the president’s attack-day hesitation. When Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly asked what he was thinking in the classroom, Bush answered “I was thinking America was under attack. I was collecting my thoughts, and I wasn’t about to panic a bunch of kids.”

The reason for Bush’s interview with a German publication? The White House visit by Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose presence sparked a new thaw in U.S.-German relations. Sitting in the White House residence last week, Bush asked Merkel about her childhood in communist East Germany. “It was very interesting,” Bush told German TV. “It also gave me a chance to get a glimpse into her soul.” Bush made an almost identical comment about Russian President Vladimir Putin after their first meeting in Slovenia in 2001. Given the tense state of Putin’s friendship with Bush now, Merkel might want to ease off on the personal anecdotes.

© 2006