This fabled episode is frequently brought up these days to illustrate that George W. can be a hard-ass. He can undertake the tough assignments. George W. did indeed go in and meet with Sununu, but somehow during the meeting, Sununu didn't get the message that it was time for him to submit his resignation. I bet Bush never actually laid it out in unmistakable terms. So Boyden Gray, along with two other Bush administration officials, had to go see Sununu after the meeting with George W., and convey the message that Bush the younger had somehow failed to deliver. Finally, Gray himself told Sununu it was time to go.

This confirms something I've always suspected. George W. Bush is not a ruthless hard-ass. He's not even an arrogant frat boy, capable of cruelty. He is, deep down, a very nice guy who likes people.

I first had this inkling while I was talking to a man George W. Bush actually did fire, Bobby Valentine, who is now manager of the New York Mets. Valentine was saying that one day, while he was managing the Texas Rangers, he was called in to talk to Bush, then the team's managing owner. Valentine actually thought he was doing a good job and expected to be congratulated. Instead, they had an hourlong meeting and Bush told Valentine it was time to move on. But, as Valentine remembers it, he came out of that meeting loving Bush. Bush had apparently spent the hour telling Valentine what a brilliant man he was, and what a great future he had in baseball. Bush love-bombed him. So, though he fired Valentine, he did it in the nicest possible way. (Bush later told me he considers Valentine one of the smartest people he has met).

So I am planning to vote for George W. Bush because he is a nice guy. As a nice guy he will attract and retain the loyalty of outstanding administration officials, and together they will promote policies that are smarter and bolder than we ever would expect, just from looking at Bush himself. As a nice man, he will prove remarkably adept at working with Congress, with Democrats, with the media and with all the other different people you need to handle as president. He will set a tone of bonhomie that will grease the machinery of government; things will actually get done in Washington again.

Niceness isn't normally the sort of talent we think qualifies you to be president. We look for greater qualities, like genius or experience or past heroism. But look at what niceness has done for Bush already. When he was running against Ann Richards to be governor of Texas, he attracted a superb staff. Richards looked unbeatable, but Bush ran a brilliant campaign and did beat her. As governor, he bonded with Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock (the Texas Constitution gives the lieutenant governor more power than the governor), and he worked extremely well with the state Legislature. He met with almost every member of the Legislature in his first few weeks in office (something Richards never did) and established personal bonds of friendship. Talk to a Texas Democratic legislator about Bush; they are rhapsodic about what a great guy he is.

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