It's an amazing story. I didn't know such a thing was still possible. Of course, in ten years we may read in some staffer's memoirs that Bush turned to Rove one day and said, "Karl, if Jed Bartlett can go to Oklahoma on the spur of the moment, how come we can't get me to Iraq kinda on the sly, like?"
The other facet is that Hillary Clinton must be fuming. I watched the NBC news tonight (I almost never do, so I'm glad I saw it.) Bush was the lead story and they spent several minutes on him, then on the dangers of Iraq, etc. Then they did another story on Iraq. Then a piece on an electric-hybrid car winning Car of the Year from MotorTrend. THEN, and only then, they allowed about 30 seconds to note that Clinton and Reed were in Afghanistan meeting the troops.