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Buffoon is probably not the word I would have chosen, but the Paul Anderson we meet at the start was deliberately chosen as a low flyer (according to the book's own language), and I think the minor show of strength was a surprise to everyone, even himself. I saw it as an example of Paul taking his lead from the strongest person in the room with him, in this case Jeb.
The Kit we saw three years later was unrecognisable to me. Maybe it was a matter taking his lead from his wife, but the charisma and popularity he appeared to earn in that community seemed at odds with the character described as Paul. Had three years of basking in having done something good for his country, or maybe it was just the high flying job, really changed him that much? I didn't buy it. But even if I had ...
Jeb shows up and the confident persona evaporates. He knew Jeb for a few hours, three years ago. Now he's suddenly willing to believe everything Jeb tells him - even though it's contrary to everything Kit/Paul has been comfortable believing for the last 3 years. It was all too sudden, too easy.
Nor was I ever convinced that Paul/Kit was the sort of person that would sacrifice himself, and the reputation of the government he had worked for all his life, for a woman and child he didn't know and had never met. A career politician seems more likely to be questioning what she was doing there in the first place. Once Jeb was put out-of-the-way then we might argue he was doing it for Jeb, but we have the hump of Jeb's credibility to get over first.
To me it seemed as if the author gave Paul/Kit strength, and took it away again, just to satisfy the constraints of the story.
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