So he had enormous admiration for George W. Bush, an executive he saw as quick to respond to adversity and unhesitating in reacting to setbacks. Further, he admired President Bush's unwavering devotion to his principles and steadfast loyalty to supporters.

For example, when scientists at six federal agencies, including the President's Council on Environmental Quality, reported that climate change due to pollution was real, Mr. Bush quickly saw the report as a threat to his friends in the utility industry. According to the New York Times, supporters of the Clean Air Act, signed into law in 1990 by President George Bush the elder, had an analysis indicating that enforcement of the act would prevent at least 19,000 premature deaths, 12,000 new cases of chronic bronchitis and 17,000 hospitalizations, and would save $154 billion in annual health-care costs. But enforcement would force utilities to endure the costs and other burdens of more controls.

So without hesitation, President George W. Bush dismissed the scientists' report with a contemptuous, "I read the report put out by the bureaucracy."

Mr. Bush, however, saw no evidence of bureaucracy at the FBI or CIA when people questioned the agencies' lack of preparedness for a terrorist attack prior to the Sept. 11 tragedy, despite several warnings. Mr. Bush decisively charged the questioners with disloyalty, despicable political motivation, dirty politics and, perhaps, a serious lack of patriotism. Mr. Bush made it clear that warnings, if any, were vague and unspecific, possibly because they did not specify a target, date, time, airport, flight number and clear description of the terrorist.

The world soon learned that longtime FBI agent Coleen Rowley had named a likely terrorist, Zacarias Moussaoui, and had pleaded with her superiors, up to FBI director Robert S. Mueller III, for permission to inspect his personal computer. Her request was ignored, despite the fact that Moussaoui had aroused suspicion at a flight school and had been named as a possible terrorist by the French government.

Finding no evidence of bureaucracy, and despite his earlier condemnation of those who criticized the FBI and CIA, President Bush promptly announced a decision to create a new government agency to anticipate and respond to terrorist threats.

The president's repeated firm response to setbacks and adversity made him a hero in Charlie's eyes. "Next time I face a critical decision," Charlie told himself, "I'm going to act decisively."