(3 of 9)
Yet Bush's plainspoken style may be well suited to a time of fear, grief and a primal rage for revenge. Those close to him recognize the costs associated with such an attribute. It was a mistake, at a time when the U.S. needs to be sensitive to its Muslim citizens and friends in Islamic countries, to cast the nation's task as a "crusade"; it was crass for Bush to adopt the attitude of a frontier sheriff and say he wanted bin Laden captured "dead or alive." "Sometimes he can be too plainspoken," says an adviser. "But when you net it all out, people like someone when he tells it like it is."
That's why the President's inner circle was not overly worried about the speech to Congress. Even some of his advisers concede that his performance on Sept. 11 left something to be desired. But his aides say Bush turned a corner on the Friday after the attacks, with a speech at the Washington National Cathedral, an impromptu rallying cry amid the rubble at Ground Zero and — in private — two hours comforting, and weeping with, the families of those who have lost loved ones. Andrew Card, his chief of staff, says the President has "made sure that there is a balance to his effort — and that includes taking care of his mind and body and spirit." Bush is sticking to his exercise regimen, watching his diet and making sure that he gets a decent night's sleep, though now he typically gets to the office just before 7 a.m. rather than just after it.
The President's team knows that he delivers a speech better to a live audience than to a TelePrompTer as he sits at a desk; that is why the White House suggested that his call to the nation should be given to the entire Congress, packed into the chamber of the House of Representatives. Bush knew it would — must — be the most important address he had ever given. When the speech was suggested on Monday morning, he turned to Karen Hughes, his Counsellor, and said, "I want a copy tonight." Hughes protested; that was impossible. "By 7," he added. Bush, says a senior aide, "wanted it early because he wanted to see if this was something he wanted to do in the first place."
Three speechwriters set to work, and Bush had a draft by the appointed time. It needed work, but Bush was becoming convinced that it was the right time to speak out. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and others weighed in; Rice helped tune the ultimatum to the Taliban, and with the speechwriting team, made sure that sad little Valentines were sent to Pakistan and Iran. Both countries were included in a short, careful list of eight that were acknowledged for losing their nationals in the World Trade Center. By Wednesday lunchtime, Hughes was convinced that her team had written a great speech. Bush agreed, and that day and the next, he practiced his delivery three times, marking changes with a black Sharpie pen. By the time he arrived at the Capitol Thursday evening after dining with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell, the President was as ready as he could possibly be.