The Color Purple, At Best

In 2010 President Bush explained his often-mocked 2001 statement about looking into Vladimir Putin's soul:

“The reason why I said that is because I remembered him talking movingly about his mother and the cross that she gave him that she had blessed in Jerusalem,” Bush told [radio host Hugh] Hewitt. [snip]

Putin then told the story of recovering the cross from a house fire and said that when a worker found the piece of jewelry it was as if it was meant to be. Bush writes that he remarked, “Vladimir, that is the story of the cross. Things are meant to be.”

Whatever it was in 2001, it's clear what color Putin's soul is today:

The 21st century czar has mastered the dark art of stirring up problems that only he can solve, so that Western leaders find themselves scolding him one minute while pleading with him the next.

President Bush was guilty of wishful thinking. And the current President, who hopes that something or someone else will stop Vladimir Putin, seems to be as disconnected.