Yes, there still IS a president. His name is Bush.

It may be hard to believe in Pol-World, what with Barack Obama basking in the Denver glow and heads spinning  over John McCain's vice presidential pick (Sarah Palin Who? Governor of Where? Alaska?).

But there remains a White House. The president is there. And as always, trouble is a-brewing.

It's just that few are paying attention.

Never mind. At the White House, there are distractions aplenty from Pol-World.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin (remember him?) saw the hand of President Bush in the conflict in Georgia. He told CNN on Thursday that the White House may have  ginned up the Georgian military push into South Ossetia (which brought a Russian response) to benefit McCain's campaign.

If his aides are telling him that, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said of Putin, then he's...

...getting "really bad advice."

What about the U.S.-Russian civil nuclear agreement? It was reached three months ago. Now, it might be scrapped, a casualty of the soured U.S.-Russian relationship.

There are bills to be signed--as the president did this morning, in this case putting his signature to a measure providing benefits to troops who, as sole survivors, return home early from foreign deployment. There are foreign leaders to meet--the president of Tanzania was on the Oval Office guest list today.

We could talk about the weather: The White House is keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Gustav, for multiple reasons.

For one, the storm has been on much the same track as Hurricane Katrina of 2005. No one needs a reminder of the devastation that storm caused to the Gulf Coast--and to the president's political standing.

For another, at some point a decision will have to be made: Does the president hold to his course of speaking to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Monday night? Does he want to be seen wading deeply in partisan politics while residents of the Gulf Coast are deep in storm floods and debris?

Stay tuned.

Mark Knoller, a CBS News White House correspondent, took a look at the phenomenon: A president with all his constitutional powers intact, dealing with a showdown with Russia over Georgia, conferring with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, tracking the political upheaval in Pakistan and the storms-of-the-season at home. 

The question of who might be president drew some 15,000 members of the news media to Denver, he observes. And perhaps a dozen reporters covering the man who is president today while he ran the nation from his home in Crawford, Texas.

Knoller, who knows more than a thing or two about the modern presidency as well as about television, writes:

It reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld's joke about why guys love their TV remote controls. He says we're less interested in what's on--than on what else is on.

It seems the media is less interested in who's president, than in who might be president in five months.

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo: Kristoffer Tripplaar / EPA

Comments

[Coronella Keiper]

Because Americans are able to respond to the current president's need for help by praying to God that "hallowed be the name of (God); come the kingdom of (God); be done the will of (God)", and cannot do much more; and because it is within our power to both pray and help shape the next presidency, it is good that we are interested in making a prayerful -- and careful -- choice November 4th. It is right for us to look to God and also educate ourselves to vote God's first choice. It does not include Sarah Palin. Period.