( CNN ) -- American politicians have a deep need to interpret foreign leaders and foreign cultures and governments as though they were American . Thursday night on `` Crossfire '' , I described the Russian president as a KGB official of enormous toughness . In fact , we showed Vladimir Putin in his KGB colonel 's uniform to drive home the reality of who he is . Putin is a great Russian nationalist who is coldly and methodically maneuvering to maximize Russia 's prestige and influence . And why should n't he ? It is his country . It has a longer history than we do . He served in the most intensely pro-Soviet institution in the old empire . Yet , American politicians keep rejecting the realities of Putin 's life , statements and actions . Putin jabs U.S . This is a bipartisan self-deception . In June 2001 , then President George W. Bush met him for the first time and concluded : . `` I looked the man in the eye . I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue . `` I was able to get a sense of his soul . `` He 's a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country and I appreciate very much the frank dialogue and that 's the beginning of a very constructive relationship . '' Gingrich : Syria a distraction from real U.S. challenges . This was said two years after Putin launched the second Chechnya war in which an estimated 300,000 Chechens would be ruthlessly killed . It also assumed a former KGB agent has a soul that is viewable . The less positive view came in August 2013 when President Obama compared his Russian counterpart to a tiresome schoolboy . `` He 's got that kind of slouch , looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom , '' Obama said of Putin . But Putin is n't a bored kid . Putin is one of the most effective and successful leaders in the world . He took over a chaotic decaying Russia in the 1990s and methodically rebuilt the authoritarian state centered system he had learned from the KGB . He may today be the strongest , most stable Russian leader since Stalin . He has achieved it with steady methodical application of power to isolate , imprison and , occasionally , kill those who oppose him . Putin 's recent op-ed in the New York Times was another calculated step . Putin despises Obama and resents his attitude and his tone . This was a chance to return the attitude . ( Obama acknowledged the difference in an ABC interview : `` I do n't think that Mr. Putin has the same values that we do . '' ) American politicians as usual tried to force Putin into an American frame of reference . The overall tone of Putin 's latest broadside was too much for Sen. Robert Menendez , chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , who said he read the article at dinner on Wednesday . Opinion : American 'exceptionalism ' -- who are they kidding ? `` I almost wanted to vomit , '' he said . `` I worry when someone who came up through the KGB tells us what is in our national interests and what is not . '' House Speaker John Boehner said he was `` insulted . '' On a bipartisan basis , American politicians seemed surprised . If American leaders would spend a little time studying Russian history they would understand Vladimir Putin . He is a Russian nationalist and seen in that tradition is very understandable and even predictable . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Newt Gingrich .
Newt Gingrich : U.S. politicians reacted with surprise to the views of Vladimir Putin . He says Putin is understandable as a former KGB agent and Russian nationalist . Politicians in both parties have mistakenly seen Putin as someone whom they can trust , he says . But Putin's actions are not consistent with his words or those of other world leaders who say that Russia should be treated like any other country.