"Presumably, the author has spent four years trying to believe that Bush is good for the country but still he comes up short. "

As I've said before, Bush foreign policy is liberal- as was his Dad's. He believes the the UN is a good thing [obviously flawed but fixable]. He probably even thinks that a single world govt could be a good idea. He believes that the US national security interest lies in the direction that more countries become democratic [it's in our nation security interest to do something that brings this about]. This is not a conservative view- and certainty is not a "conservative conservative conservative" view. As I said there is a reason why Bush and Blair agree- they have a similar POV.

Without going down the route of nihilism how much more Liberal in his foreign policy could Bush possibly get? [joke].

That a "conservative conservative conservative" has more in common with a nihilist isn't surprising- both think this existance is doomed, doomed, doomed- and Denial is their drinking buddy.