It's time for a more serious look at how the President succeeded in business

Aides describing the President's outrage over CEO behavior say Bush feels "betrayed by his class." If so, one thing is certain: It's the first time he's had cause to feel this way.

Bush's muscular new piety on corporate ethics means the press has the hook it needs to reexamine his cozy Texas business history. And that means we may finally get beyond fawning accounts of Bush's first-president-with-an-MBA-management style to reminders that, among other remarkable facts, Bush is the first president to have been investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading, and that Bush seems to have received an unusual $12 million gift while governor of Texas that accounts for his fortune.

Now, before everyone starts screaming, "How dare you sully the name of our commander in chief with some dirty, low-down truth-telling," let's be clear. Bush is putting this issue in play of his own volition. Or, more precisely, because his pollsters tell him that not getting out front here is a certain risk, whereas the chance the press will broadcast damning facts from Bush's business past is less certain.

In any event, intimidating reporters into backing off negative stories about the boss is a war this White House knows how to fight. The day-one strategy, after Paul Krugman launched the first salvo in his New York Times column, was for Bush to say dismissively: "It's been fully vetted." This Krugman-to-reporters-to-Bush exchange made page A12 in the Times and A4 in the Washington Post.

A start, yes - but not nearly good enough!