it didn't sound like twilight time for Mr. Bush. - Times article
why is he acting like that?
Acting like what? It "did NOT sound like twilight time for Mr. Bush." If objective, I think one would leave it at that.
We are all quite familiar with GW's personal mannersims, but few are qualified to interpret them. If one is kind and supportive, he might just see someone trying hard to do a good job. I would like to see the person whose every twitch would be considered flawless over many years of intense and often unfriendly scrutiny. This is not American Idol, where part of the game is to be mean and hateful.
I do think of Lincoln with others considered among the greats and GW Bush similarly, in that a President can help the US succeed in spite of itself. I believe it was always inspired leadership and included political or even personal controversy. I would consider Cheney as part of the GW Bush sense of mission. One would also have to be naive to think that Bush the elder had no influence, although I believe him when saying that he does not proactively participate.
GW may be somewhat a puppet, but what politician in high places is not to some extent? Being President is a Faustian arrangement, which doesn't even relax in the final years of a second and final term with no further ambitions. Even then, the President has a responsibility to help his party retain the office, while he or she makes every effort to ensure some noteworthy legacy of achievement. Any such achievement would have to be, by definition, good for the US, or history would mainly reject it. Some of those achievements are admired only in hindsight, with the principal regarded as larger than life. It's been said that you have to be dead to be famous.