It never fails. I watch one of Bush's press conferences and then I listen to media analysis and wonder whether the analyst and I were watching the same show. It's a terrible feeling of being divorced from reality and always makes me doubt my own sanity. Today, I listened to Bob Schieffer, from CBS, who I'm sure is a lovely man, tell all his viewers why the U.S. relationship with Russia was on such fragile footing at the moment. He explained to us that Bush had been very, very cautious when speaking about Russia in the conference, so as not to disrupt that fragile balance. I sat there with my mouth open, wondering if I had not just heard Bush say we need to reprogram the Russian DNA.
Rather than trust my own hearing, I waited for the transcript. I ran chores - going to the bank, buying bread, completing a translation - haunted by the thought that I might not be well, that I might very well be delusional.
It is with some relief, therefore, that I quote the transcript of Bush's remarks on Russia. (Although, in my mind, I suppose I could just be imagining that I'm reading it and reporting it, and none of this is really happening at all. I will never truly be at ease.)
Bush: You know, one of the interesting -- well, my leadership style has been to try to be in a position where I actually can influence people. And one way to do that is to have personal relationships that enable me to sit down and tell people what's on my mind, without fear of rupturing relations.
And that's how I've tried to conduct my business with Vladimir Putin. We don't agree on a lot of issues. We do agree on some. Iran is one. Nuclear proliferation is another. Reducing our nuclear warheads was an issue that we agreed on early.
But I believe good diplomacy requires good relations at the leadership level. That's why, in Slovakia, I was in a position to tell him that, you know, we didn't understand why he was altering the relationship between the Russian government and a free press. In other words, why -- why the free press was becoming less free.
And I was able to do -- he didn't like it. You know, nobody likes to be talked to in a way that may point up different flaws in their strategy. But I was able to do so in a way that didn't rupture relations.
He was able to tell me going into Iraq wasn't the right thing.
And, to me, that's good diplomacy. And so -- and I'll continue to practice that diplomacy.
Now, in terms of whether or not it's possible to reprogram the kind of basic Russian DNA, which is a centralized authority, that's hard to do. We've worked hard to make it -- you know, appear in their interest, or we made it clear to them that it is in their interest to have good relations with the West.
Let us assume, for a moment, that some parallel universe exists in which diplomacy is an art in which neither Bush nor Bob Shcieffer are skilled, and that, in this universe, one should strive to avoid insulting the inhabitants of a nation while delicate negotiations with its leaders are underway and one should never, ever, suggest that their DNA should be reprogrammed. In that universe, it may also be inappropriate to call world leaders by their first names, discuss their toothpaste brand in public and give them neck massages. I need for that universe to exist, because I would presumably be considered sane there, and Bush and Schieffer would need to evaluate their own delusions. At the moment, I can't pretend to know which universe we inhabitat, and I can think of no test that would verify who among us is delusional.