Bush as a “Gut Player”
"The Right Man," a book by former Bush speechwriter David Frum, depicted the president as a leader who instinctively makes the right calls even when he might be ignorant of details and oblivious to the nuances.
Amid this acclaim, Bush appears to have bought into this glorification of himself as an inspired “war president,” a “gut player” whose “instincts” never fail him.
In "Bush at War," author Bob Woodward wrote that “it’s pretty clear that Bush’s role as politician, president and commander in chief is driven by a secular faith in his instincts – his natural and spontaneous conclusions and judgments. His instincts are almost his second religion.”
So, rather than weigh complex decisions and make tempered judgments, Bush trusted his “gut” and made “bold” moves. 'He came to see himself as a kind of modern-day Alexander the Great, someone who shaped history by his personal will, albeit without actually putting his own life on the line.'"