How well Bush played into Islamist hands

Islamic extremists, along with the Middle East in general, have a basic logic to their actions. It is all about macho humiliation and saving face. Faced with a cool, calm and rational President like Obama will be, the Islamic fundamentalists would not have been able to sucker the US into a cowboy strategy that pitted the US against the world in a venue that does not allow the US to use the kinds of weapons that is strongest in. George Bush felt his manhood threatened by the terrorists, and wanted to fight it out mano a mano to humiliate the Islamicists. In this way, the US was maneuvered into fighting on the terrorists' own terms -- the only way they even had a chance.