But the world lives on sound bites, and that sound bite is too easy to use to make him look bad.
I wouldn't wring my hands too much over it if I were you. I am confident it will not play out as you predict.
The natural question one would ask is "like what?" and when they hear they would agree with the president.
President Bush has not established his new tone for nothing. Now we are going to see it pay off. People know he is not a whiner and reaches out to people. With his decision not to attend and statement of why, they will be inclined to side with him.