Tenet schmoozed his way into being retained by GWB. If you recall, there was a dedication ceremony in April 1999 of the George Bush Center for Intelligence (Headquarters). Tenet was the DCI at the time. George HW Bush said in his opening remarks at the dedication the following:
Mr. Director, thank you for those overly kind remarks. Let me thank the great team that we have running CIA. I think all the former Directors here would agree that in George Tenet we have one of the very, very best.
Tenet is the least qualified, least impressive DCI in the history of the Agency yet his tenure has been among the longest. Only Dulles served longer. A change is long overdue, but nothing will happen until after November.
While I have no reason to doubt your description of Tenet's personality or methodology I believe President Bush had had enough smoke blown up his ass all over the world that any flattery would not have much impact upon him or his recommendations.