George W. Bush is Bertram W. Wooster

I've always maintained that the appropriate characterization of President Bush is a modern-day, American version of Bertie Wooster. Like Wooster, he was born to privilege and attended an elite university, where he demonstrated more interest in school pride than actual academics. Like Wooster, he has an affable and aloof manner, and is prone to, er, grammatical ingenuity when he speaks. And, finally, like Wooster, he'll do anything to help out a pal whose landed himself in the soup.

A recent interview only confirms these Woosterish tendencies. Here he is, stoically giving up golf in a show of solidarity with the soldiers:

For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families.

“I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”

...

“I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life,” he said. “I was playing golf — I think I was in central Texas — and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, ‘It's just not worth it anymore to do.’"

And here he is, glassy-eyed with sentiment as he talks about his pals:

In January he plans to return to e-mail, which he gave up when he took office to avoid leaks. He said he looks forward to “e-mailing to my buddies,” and said he was a heavy e-mailer in Texas.

“I can remember, as governor, I stayed in touch with all kinds of people around the country, firing off e-mails at all times of the day to stay in touch with my pals,” he said.

Ah, man. You know--I think in a funny kind of way, I'm gonna miss him.