Unexpected Wash. Post Compliments

E.J. Dionne, who's written some truly frustrating pieces in WaPo, has a very readable column today tracking the premise that neither the left nor the right is as cohesive, or as disjointed, as the other side fears:

The right is widely assumed to have more coherence and discipline than it does. That means its dominance in our politics is exaggerated while its intellectual energy is insufficiently appreciated. Few outside its ranks acknowledge how many philosophical streams feed the conservative movement.

The left is widely assumed to be in a state of a perpetual disarray, inspired mostly by knee-jerk responses such as "political correctness" or "radical secularism."

Speaking in over-hyped terms about a perceived split in conservative ranks over the Schiavo matter -- a state's rights/right to life split that will disappear as soon as the matter reaches its sad conclusion -- is tucked away a pretty neat sentence:

Even Bush, the most skilled mediator among conservative factions since Ronald Reagan, has been unable to keep peace on the right in this instance.

And, an editorial in the same edition contains this sentence:

The Bush administration has rightly urged Mr. Bakiyev to work closely with the OSCE, which is dispatching a team to Kyrgyzstan.

Has the "dumb Bush" completely disappeared from MSM commentary? Have they finally seen the light, as his policies begin to turn out well because they are well thought out by an intelligent man?