President Bush usually says what he thinks

But in this rare interview with the British Times Online, he’s unusually candid about thoughts we haven’t heard before.

In an exclusive interview, he expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the war and said that he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. “I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric.”

Phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive”, he said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace”. He said that he found it very painful “to put youngsters in harm’s way”. He added: “I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.”

Bush is on his farewell tour in Europe this week, and he seems to be using the time to look back with introspection, and let his party look forward with some detachment from his administration’s performance.

The unilateralism that marked his first White House term has been replaced by an enthusiasm for tough multilateralism. He said that his focus for his final six months in office was to secure agreement on issues such as establishing a Palestinian state and to “leave behind a series of structures that makes it easier for the next president”…

Mr Bush told The Times that when his successor arrived and assessed “what will work or what won’t work in dealing with Iran”, he would stick with the current policy.

If his successor is Barack Obama, that’s questionable, given Obama’s stated willingness to hold conversations with Iran’s defiant and radical president. Bush can’t do anything about that, but while he still can, he’s pulling away from his party’s candidate for president. Especially since the Obama campaign has made a slogan out of linking McCain with Bush.

The President knows that Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain will have to distance himself from the current Administration. “He’s an independent person who will make his decisions on what he thinks is best.”

That’s always been characteristic of McCain, this independent renegade reputation, and the press used to love him for it. He hasn’t changed, but they have.

And Bush is finally showing that he has, too.