Yes, Blair is sharp and he may be smarter than Bush.
But Bush has gigantic balls, much bigger than Blair's, or anybody else's in world leadership.
In fact, I don't think it matters to him one bit what his polls say. He's going to do, or at least try to do, what he wants to do over the next two years, and dare the Congress to stop him.
I don't disagree. Bush has resolve and the courage of his convictions. Those are good traits, and they highlighted them in 04 and contrasted them against the flip-flopper successfully.