In 20/20 hindsight, its clear that G.W.Bush was being led around by the nose by Cheney, Rummy and Rove. When it suited them to have Bin Laden as the enemy right after 9/11, Bush made his original comments. After that when they could not get him, and after they took their eye off the ball by going into Iraq, Bush had to downplay the importance of O.B.L.

It was gracious of Obama to call Bush before going public with the news, and gracious of Bush to congratulate the president.
Note that Rumy made some kind of snotty comment about how the original tip that led to this came from Guantanamo. What a jerk.