He's Battered, but His Agenda Isn't Beaten (the media loves Bush)

“Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?” CBS News Poll, Feb. 22-26, 2006.


Hanging In

He's Battered, but His Agenda Isn't Beaten

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: March 5, 2006

PRESIDENT BUSH has survived rough scrapes before, bouncing back after the reports of torture by American troops at Abu Ghraib, for example, and later the furor over his Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers and the slow response to Hurricane Katrina.

But last week there were signs that Mr. Bush's once limitless supply of political capital had few reserves left, an extraordinary turn of events so early in the second term of a president whose party controls both wings of Congress. A poll released last week showed his job approval rating had fallen to 34 percent, returning to around the low mark reached after the storms last fall. It had recovered to 40 percent in December.

But more worrisome was the open rebellion of his own party in Congress at almost every turn: forcing the White House to accept changes in the Patriot Act; challenging the administration's domestic wiretapping program; and moving quickly to overturn the approval of an Arab company's takeover of terminals at major American ports. The Republicans are openly attacking the president in the area of his greatest strength with the public — national security.

Their tone has changed sharply. Several Republican senators talked of the president like a wayward friend who had fallen down on his luck, suggesting he needed some new staff or should get out more. "Look, this is a great guy," said Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. "He ought to talk to us more. At least we are going home every weekend."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/weekinreview/05kirkpatrick.html