Farewell to the war presidency

Holding forth in the Oval Office, President George W. Bush is as upbeat and self-confident as ever, even if markedly grayer. Yet a sense of yesterday hangs about him, not just because Barack Obama is already de facto president, but because the war on terror that animated his presidency has faded in the public mind.

To talk to Mr. Bush about his presidency is to enter a time warp, a world where the 9/11 attacks loom large, where the transformation of the Middle East is an urgent priority, and where the president's energy is devoted to managing a very hot war in Iraq.

The most consequential event of Bush's presidency was a terror attack, and the most consequential decision was an invasion of another country. The world will hold nasty surprises for Mr. Obama, but he clearly hopes to focus on the homeland — and not in the sense of "homeland security." The central indices of his presidency probably won't be people liberated and terrorists killed, but jobs created and energy-efficient light bulbs installed.

The public has done worse than reject President Bush, it has — despite all the heat still generated by his administration's controversies — passed him by. As the Arabs say, the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on. And Bush feels it.

"Over time," Mr. Bush says, "because we were effective at protecting the homeland, the fear of an attack began to dissipate. People knew that there was an attack in London and that would raise concerns, but there wasn't this, you know, on-edge awareness anymore. And so the job of the government is in some way self-defeating toward keeping the country alert and aware."

In defending his decisions, Mr. Bush hearkens back to that bygone era. "You cannot isolate Iraq without placing it in the post-9/11 environment and what life was like," he says.

As Condi Rice recently said, "If you were in a position of authority on Sept. 11th, then every day since has been Sept. 12th." So it was for Mr. Bush, with the management of two wars on top of it.

Recalling Iraq's descent toward fullscale civil war in 2006, Mr. Bush says: "This was all-consuming during this period of time."

With the surge, Mr. Bush set out to create conditions in Iraq that would make the war sustainable for his successor. He succeeded. The new Iraqi-U.S. security agreement, Mr. Bush says, "enshrines a presence and the doctrine of return on success that gives the president, the new president, some latitude."

John McCain campaigned on the success of the surge and on the same sense of urgency about the war on terror as President Bush. People didn't reject Mr. McCain's views so much as the very notion of another war presidency.

Mr. Bush has been diminished by events and his own failures, but there's a largeness to his character — in his sincerity and courage — that will only be appreciated long from now. He's confident "conservatives will rebound," with "new ideas" and "new blood." A first step is adjusting to a world where a war presidency seems passé.

Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review.