USA Today - April 2, 2003
<http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20030402/5023089s.htm>
Strain of Iraq war showing on Bush, those who know him say He's said to be 'burdened,' tense, angry at media, second-guessers
By Judy Keen USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- The public face of President Bush at war is composed and controlled. On TV and in newspaper photos, he is sturdy and assured, usually surrounded by military personnel. But those choreographed glimpses of Bush's commander-in-chief persona don't tell the whole story. Behind the scenes, aides and friends say, the president's role is more complicated and his style more emotional.
People who know Bush well say the strain of war is palpable. He rarely jokes with staffers these days and occasionally startles them with sarcastic putdowns. He's being hard on himself; he gave up sweets just before the war began.
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He has a special epithet for members of his own staff who worry aloud. He calls them ''hand-wringers.''
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Bush believes he was called by God to lead the nation at this time, says Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a close friend who talks with Bush every day.
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Bush is not an expert on military tactics, but he's getting an education from Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was an Air Force combat pilot in Vietnam.
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Bush copes with anxiety as he always has. He prays and exercises. Evans says his friend has a placid acceptance of challenges that comes from his Christian faith.
''He knows that we're all here to serve a calling greater than self,'' Evans says. ''That's what he's committed his life to do. He understands that he is the one person in the country, in this case really the one person in the world, who has a responsibility to protect and defend freedom.''
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The president's friends and family fret about him, but advisers say the pressure doesn't seem to be getting to him. ''He's not one of those people who blows with the wind,'' Rumsfeld says. ''He has a very good inner gyroscope, a stabilizer that keeps him centered.''