More from that Washington Post story titled “A President Besieged and Isolated, Yet at Ease”:
Since winning reelection 2 1/2 years ago, Bush has had few days of good news, and what few he has had rarely lasted.
FDR had over three terms of bad news. There was a Depression going on through his first couple of terms. Despite his efforts, it was a grim slog for the most part and he was aware of an oncoming threat from fascism in Europe and Japanese expansionism. The Nazis attacked Poland, France, England and elsewhere in his second term.
Then in his third term, the US was attacked at Pearl Harbor. I dare say that there may have been a few days of good news on the order of “The attack went well and not as many people on our side died as we thought would die,” but it wasn’t all vodka gimlets and sailing on the Potomac, wot?
Then he died at the beginning of his fourth. What a whiny Bush.