Accidental Tourist?
For pointers to how the GOP election defeat may have changed Bush, take a look at the president’s Asia itinerary—and rhetoric.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
Newsweek
Updated: 9:26 a.m. PT Nov 16, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15750709/site/newsweek/Nov. 15, 2006 - "Stay the course" may have been the slogan that killed the GOP and President Bush in 2006. But Bush still has the capacity to change, and the political sense to know that he needs to adapt to survive the last two years of his presidency.
Take the start of his current weeklong trip to Asia. On previous trips, Bush has shunned cultural events, preferring to plunge straight into his business meetings with foreign leaders. In foreign interviews, he has often blamed his scheduler for leaving no time to show his interest in the countries he visits. In reality, his aides have long complained they couldn’t convince him to carve out time in his schedule to win some easy goodwill for his presidency and the United States.
That pattern was broken this week. The president’s first stop in Singapore on Thursday was the Asian Civilizations Museum—even before he visited the U.S. Embassy, which is normally his first port of call. There he and the First Lady walked through exhibits, including one about the Islamic world, before listening to a group of traditional musicians. The president even tried one of the instruments for himself—a saron, or Asian xylophone.
A goofy moment? Maybe to American eyes. But these gestures have great meaning to foreign nations that may suspect, or believe, that the United States is too powerful to care about them.