The image that will last of President Bush and President Putin may be the two of them in a motorboat off Walker Point, where — let it not be said that Mr. Bush is incompetent at diplomacy — Mr. Putin was the one to catch a fish. But the more significant development may have been the prospect dangled by Mr. Putin of a more solid and warm and formal relationship between America and Russia.

It was unexpected, given that chill that had gone into the relationship because of Russian offenses such as the polonium poisoning of a British-based Russian exile. Mr. Putin spoke yesterday of the “possibility of raising our relations to an entirely new level that would involve a very private and very, shall we say, sensitive dialogue on all issues related to the international security, including, of course, the missile defense issue. … Gradually, our relations would become those of a strategic partnership nature. It would mean raising the level of our — and improving the level of our interaction in the area of international security, thus leading to improved political interaction and cooperation with a final effect being, of course, evident in our economic relations and situation.”

Mr. Putin, a former KGB colonel, is one crafty operator, and any deal he offers would have to be subjected to intense scrutiny. Mr. Bush was noncommittal yesterday in his public response. But surely President Bush’s father, who was along for the fishing trip yesterday and who served as ambassador to Communist China, understands the way in which a developing friendship with one enemy can be used to put pressure on another enemy. Perhaps a Washington-Moscow entente could pressure Beijing as well as the Islamist extremists.

America can be a truly strategic partner with only a free democracy, as Mr. Bush well understands. But if Mr. Putin is making a decision to cast his country’s own geopolitical lot with America, it will be Mr. Bush who will go down in history as the one who reeled in the really big catch at Kennebunkport.