Iraq Will Test Bush's Spiritual Bond With Americans

President Bush soon may give one of the most awesome orders of his presidency: the command that sends U.S. troops into battle against Saddam Hussein. How does a president contemplate such a decision? Where does he look for guidance and inspiration?

Different presidents have different answers. Some, such as Ronald Reagan and Woodrow Wilson, were known for their ability to think ideologically as presidents. Others, such as Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, were nearly pure pragmatists. George W. Bush belongs to a very different third category: He's a leader who thinks in terms of morality and faith.

Some people are disturbed by the president's faith.

Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State complained to The (Baltimore) Sun: "The tone set by Bush is, 'I am a Christian; I'm going to tell you about it on a regular basis.' It eventually gets very exclusionary."

Opponents of the president's foreign policy often single out Bush's religion for attack. The left-wing editors of The Progressive magazine denounce his "messianic militarism." Overseas, Bush's faith unnerves some of our more secularized allies. On a program broadcast on Feb. 2, the BBC's political editor, Andrew Marr, explained how British Prime Minister Tony Blair "hates" being asked about Bush's faith: "He knows how damaging it is, and he knows that a lot of people out there . . . regard the Bush crusade as, in some respect, a fundamentalist religious one, and that terrifies him."

According to these critics, foreign and domestic, Bush's faith biases him toward aggression: It makes him too quick to act, too eager to root out whatever he regards as evil.

Those fears are misplaced. If anything, Bush's religion biases him toward caution and restraint.

One of the most self-revealing speeches of Bush's presidency was the commencement address he delivered at Yale in May 2001: "When I left here, I didn't have much in the way of a life plan. I knew some people who thought they did. But it turned out that we were all in for ups and downs, most of them unexpected. Life takes its own turns, makes its own demands, writes its own story. And along the way, we start to realize we are not the author."

"We are not the author." If you want to understand Bush, remember that sentence.

Here is a leader who makes decisions quickly and instinctively, yet who calmly waited more than a year after his "axis of evil" speech before taking the final steps toward war in Iraq.

Here is a leader who takes terrible risks, yet not only seems but actually is serene and confident, almost immune to temptations to fidget or second-guess.

The explanation is Bush's spirituality. He really does believe that after he has done his best to make the right decision, the rest is up to God. Bush's faith can startle or even dismay more secular-minded people. I remember watching him at a big December 2001 rally in Florida as he suggested that Americans pray to God to protect their country with a spiritual shield. I looked at the crowd of reporters scribbling furiously and wondered: "What on earth do they make of that?" But whether they approved or not, that was Bush.

On the issues, Bush remains in many ways a minority president. Even after his most recent State of the Union, the Gallup Poll found that fewer than half of Americans surveyed agreed with his policies on the economy or health care. Barely half agreed with his policies on taxes, the environment or energy. Yet more than 60% continue to approve of him. There's a bond between Bush and the American people that's bigger than politics. They might not always agree with what he does -- but they trust him.

It's a new kind of leadership: a spiritual leadership. And in Iraq, it is about to be put to its most severe test yet.