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Republicans Unnerved by Paralyzed Presidency: Albert R. Hunt

By Albert R. Hunt
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- There's a number that chills Republicans: 616. That's
how many days remain in the Bush administration.

Private conversations with Republicans throughout America reveal doom and
gloom about a politically paralyzed presidency and party. The on-the-record
observations are almost as bleak.

``There's a lot of nervousness up here,'' says U.S. Representative Ray
LaHood of Illinois. ``It's a very difficult time for Republicans.'' LaHood
was one of 11 House Republicans who met with President George W. Bush this
past week to tell him the party was in political peril.

``Unfortunately, the big issues will not be dealt with between now and the
next election,'' says Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina.

``The country doesn't believe George W. Bush, it doesn't trust him, and with
19 months to go it's only going to get worse,'' predicts Ed Rollins, a
Republican strategist who ran Ronald Reagan's 1984 presidential campaign.
``There is nothing the president can do to get his (poll) numbers back up.''

According to those polls, almost two-thirds of Americans disapprove of
Bush's job performance; that is Richard Nixon territory. A majority of the
public approved of the performance of the last two lame-duck presidents,
Reagan and Bill Clinton, at this same stage in their administrations.

Daily Embarrassments

While the other major democracies have, or are about to have, new leaders,
America is mired in a rudderless status quo. A new embarrassment or
scandal -- Alberto Gonzales, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove -- seems to surface
daily; the only good news for the White House is that occasionally these
stories overshadow the bad news coming out of Iraq.

Bush is reviled around much of the world, has precious little political
capital at home, and seems surrounded by hacks or the forgettable and
faceless.

Strikingly, perhaps the two most important members of the Cabinet -- Defense
Secretary Robert Gates and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson -- have little
history with the president, and their greatest leverage is the havoc that
would be wrought if they left.

For a year and a half, there have been various rationalizations for Bush's
second-term presidential problems, and guarantees that a solution is at
hand.

Josh Bolten, who replaced Andy Card as chief of staff, was supposed to
refocus the administration; after Rove escaped the shadow of a special
prosecutor, he and the president were going to be re-energized; when Don
Rumsfeld, the face of the Iraq debacle, was fired, there was supposed to be
a new start.

No More Fixes

Now, the dwindling band of Bush supporters have run out of fixes and are
resigned to the contemporary assessments. Like Harry Truman, the patron
saint of unpopular American politicians, Bush will be vindicated by history,
they say.

An analogy to President Lyndon Johnson seems more apt, although with an
exception: LBJ became a lame duck with less than 10 months to go in his
term; Bush, the 43rd president, has almost twice as long to go.

This has enormous implications for foreign policy, domestic politics and the
legislative agenda for the next year and a half.

Bill Cohen, a Republican who served as defense secretary under Clinton,
thinks Bush blew what may have been his last opportunity by failing to
embrace the bipartisan recommendations by the Jim Baker-Lee Hamilton-led
Iraq Study Group to gradually disengage from Iraq.

Cohen, who travels the globe advising clients, says the president ``doesn't
have much influence on anything,'' commanding little respect or fear around
the world.

Dominant No More

That's why the notion that he may take military action against Iran -- for
good or bad reasons -- is far-fetched. The American military, bogged down in
Iraq, lacks the resources and the president lacks the credibility for such a
huge step.

Politically, there is a telling indicator: Count the number of times any
Republican presidential candidate cites Bush in speeches, debates or
interviews. You will need only one hand, if that.

Recall a few years ago how this president was the dominant figure in his
party.

According to last month's Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times national survey,
Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin want the next president to move away from
Bush's policies.

Evaporated Dreams

While the president can veto most initiatives of congressional Democrats,
his once-ambitious second-term dreams of overhauling Social Security and the
tax system and dealing with America's health-care crisis have evaporated.

The Bush administration will probably get a few relatively small trade deals
on the Democrats' terms. These are desirable, though not exactly the stuff
of legacies.

What is possible, if more challenging, is a deal on a medium-size
energy-global warming package. The president would have to resolve major
tensions within his own administration, with Paulson and Vice President Dick
Cheney as the most likely adversaries. That's a skill that has eluded him in
the past.

And it's his own party that stands in the way of an important achievement on
reform of immigration, an area where the president has consistently been
enlightened.

Congressional Democrats will pass an immigration bill if - -and this is a
big if -- at last a third of Republican lawmakers support liberalized
measures.

The risk is that this issue inflames the party's conservatives, who form the
nucleus of Bush's dwindling support. The president may already be making too
many concessions to the hardliners -- one White House proposal would make it
harder for illegal immigrants to become citizens -- to produce a bipartisan
immigration breakthrough.

Accordingly, Bush will probably spend much of the next year and a half
sparring with critics, including a growing number in his own party, over an
Iraq war policy that few believe will succeed.

A year ago, William F. Buckley Jr., the father of contemporary American
conservatism, lamented that even if Bush had ``invented the Bill of Rights,
it wouldn't get him out of his (Iraq) jam.''

That won't change over the next 616 days.

Guest

On May 14, 1:52 pm, "Sid9" <s...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

Democrat Congress Collaps · Guest

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3165636

Lobbying Reform Losing Steam in House
Lobbying Reform Losing Momentum in Congress After Democrats Touted It for
2006 Election

War Protestors Camp Out At Pelosi's S.F. Home
Want To Bring Troops Home Now
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5113461

Pelosi Has CODEPINK Arrested
Nancy Pelosi had the Capitol Police round up the CODEPINK kooks outside her
office and drag them away this morning, provoking a round of whining and
sobbing: Anti-war protesters arrested at Pelosi's office.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24893&only&rss

Charles Aulds · Guest

On Mon, 14 May 2007 17:12:29 -0400, Democrat Congress Collapsing approval
Ratings wrote:

Stanley F. Nelson · Guest

We will have much reason to sing "Happy Days are Here Again" once Bush is
out of office and we have a president who restores competence and stature to
the office. In my 74th year, I remember rather easily when "Happy Days are
Here Again" was virtually our second National Anthem. More recently, the
theme from "Twilight Zone" would seem more suitable.

Ah well, it's always darkest before the dawn -- or something like that.

Stanley F. Nelson
Dallas.

Stanley F. Nelson
Dallas.

Some dumb guy · Guest

Stanley F. Nelson wrote:

Sid9 · Guest

"Some dumb guy" <abc@xyz.com> wrote in message
news:2b52i.5970$RX.971@newssvr11.news.prodigy.net...

Bob Eld · Guest

"Sid9" <sid9@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:f%32i.4638$ya.92@bignews8.bellsouth.net...

Fafnir · Guest

In article <4648d0bc$0$28221$a82e2bb9@reader.athenanews.com>
"Democrat Congress Collapsing approval Ratings" <http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6625294,00.html> wrote:

<nothing of consequnce>

Pelosi's doing just what she was elected to do - ending the Bush war.

But being a politicians, she's clever enough to force Bush to take the blame via his vetos.