I think some of the folks chiming in on the Corner today to savage President Bush’s appearance on “Meet the Press” are exhibiting an understandable but debilitating tendency to project their expectations on others. No voter currently undecided about 2004, but even remotely familiar with the current occupant of the White House, is expecting to see evidence of his deft facility with the English language and his uncanny ability to fence and perry with talk-show hosts. That’s not the guy they’ll vote for. The guy they’ll vote for is a decent, no-nonsense, well-meaning, forthright leader who makes tough and reasonable decisions to keep them safe and protect their freedom. On Iraq and intelligence, I thought Bush performed well. He was repetitive on some basic points, including the idea that “at a minimum” Hussein has been confirmed as having the ability to manufacture and then pass along dangerous weapons to terrorists. Thus, Bush continued, we “had no choice” but to act.

That’s enough. Who cares if he wins debaters’ points on this, or doesn’t make this repetitive answer fit squarely with every question asked to him? If you’d like to judge a forensics tournament, I think you’ll find many of them in your local community are in need of volunteer judges. But process of persuasion is completely different from the academic exercise of winning debates. Bush gave the right answer, including lots of talk about his “forward strategy of freedom,” to whatever question was asked, and did so without looking evasive to me, though maybe I was just unable to grok the subtext.

I do agree that the performance got weaker as the hour went on, and when the subject turned to domestic policy. Still, what would really damage Bush in the public’s mind would be if they came to see him as 1) a fake, 2) a villain, or 3) a dupe in over his head. Didn’t happen today, and I think his performance will help to reverse the numbers on the war. The administration does have a lot to do to motivate the GOP’s base in the face of soaring deficits and a new Medicare entitlement, and this interview didn’t do that. The facts are against him on these points. But the more important rhetorical task right now was regarding Iraq, and on this the Bush performance will play well among average folks — assuming they hear enough of it.