How You Feel About That Secret Trip May Depend on Your Politics
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Bush will be spending the day at his ranch in Texas, we believe. And CNN's John King reports, how you feel about that secret trip may depend on your politics.</s>JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Kodak moment in any event, all the more so because of the element of surprise.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm proud to be your commander in chief. I bring greetings from America: May God bless you all.</s>KING: In this case the commander-in-chief is also a candidate for re-election, so while the White House calls this a Thanksgiving tribute to those on the frontline, some Democrats privately call it a stunt. Designed, they say, to push this made-for-TV moment, a bit back in the memory. The "mission accomplished" event was nearly seven month ago now. The escalating attacks and rising death toll of recent weeks, a painful reminder the mission is anything but over.</s>SCOTT REED, GOP STRATEGIST: Obviously the biggest weakness for the president and the upcoming campaign is Iraq. And it is weak for one reason, it is an unpredictable circumstance.</s>KING: And one visit to Baghdad, for all the attention it gets, won't answer the big political questions.</s>ROBERT DALLER, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: This can be -- what seems to be -- a kind of quagmire. Can we bear the cost, financially? And more importantly, in terms of lost lives? It is a story that we'll unfold now.</s>KING: For all the problems in postwar Iraq, some Republicans believe that scenes like this play to a key Bush campaign strength.</s>BILL MCINTURFF, GOP POLLSTER/STRATEGIST: The Democratic Party and its candidates have zero credibility as a party that people trust to have the capacity to kind of stand up to international terrorism.</s>KING: Yet for all the cheers from the troops in Baghdad or hear at a base back home, there are some who are worried that Mr. Bush is too defined by images of war.</s>MICHAEL DEAVER, GOP STRATEGIST, FMR. REAGAN WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL: They have to play to that strength and repeat that strength and remind people of his qualities of strong leadership. I just think that at some point he has to also get back to people understanding that he's also a regular guy, like you and me. I want somebody, you know, that is -- we used to say, somebody that you want to sit down and have a beer with.</s>KING: The president's aides say the secret visit to Baghdad was to say thank you, period. But everything this president does for the next 11 also has an element of politics and everything said now about the images and meaning of this dramatic visit are less relevant than how the politics of the Iraq debate looks six or 10 months from now. John King, CNN, Washington.