from "the washington post" bob woodward, gloria borger from cnn, elisabeth bumiller and michael duffy from "time." so much of our politics, our supreme court legal rulings, our foreign involvement today was shaped by the george w. bush presidency. the president talked about how he saw it and his library dedication. >> when future generations come to this library and study this administration, they're going to find out that we stayed true to our convictions. and that when our freedom came under attack, we made the tough decisions required to keep the american people safe. chris: today, a special extended look at the forces that propelled bush, personally and politically with four correspondents who covered bush. and even two of whom wrote books about him. and we're going to do this with a series of big themed questions today. first, bob and everyone, was george w. bush a better president than most thought he would be when he came in? after he had lost the popular vote to al gore and took office when the u.s. supreme court settled that florida recount, bob? >> first of all, i hate to do