Vladimir Putin got the "good man" treatment from George W. Bush in Slovenia two weeks ago. Bush's description of the KGB graduate was startling, but it shouldn't have been a surprise to veteran Bush watchers. Bush has repeated this routine with hundreds of supporters and colleagues: a firm handshake, a look in the eye, a jocular exchange of words and, finally, a pronouncement that whoever his interlocutor might be has a good "heart" or "soul" and is therefore a "fine American" (or, in Putin's case, a "fine Russian").

This style is deeply informed by Bush's religion, which accounts for his frequent references to his and other people's hearts (it is no accident that Bush's comments about Putin bore the whiff of another evangelical -- Jimmy Carter). Bush mentions "hearts" as often as John McCain refers to "special interests" and Clinton did to "the children."

That's why, during a Des Moines GOP debate, when asked who is the most important philosopher in his life, Bush said, "Christ, because he changed my heart." For many, this was the most controversial and mystifying statement that Bush made in the campaign. What did he mean by it? People in the South and the Midwest, where evangelicalism is the mainstream, connect with Bush's language immediately, but those in other parts of the country -- along with Catholics, Jews and mainline Protestants -- can be left scratching their heads. As Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center says, Bush "needs to develop a public religious language accessible to other parts of the country, especially people in the Northeast."