With President Bush suffering two significant political defeats in recent days, is his presidency now permanently crippled? He continues to suffer very low poll numbers and has been unable to move any issue forward for months. He has been unable to capitalize on improving economic conditions.
Perhaps Bush is simply suffering from second-term woes. All recent presidents who served two terms (Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton) suffered major scandals and waning political influence during the last four years of their time in office. This may be the result of term limits, that once a president is longer running for anything, he becomes unimportant and easy target for enemies and friends alike. Conservatives have sought to distance themselves from Bush, particularly on the Miers matter while Democrats take glee in the current CIA scandal.
Is there anything Bush can do to break out of this conundrum? I think for Bush to regain the trust of the American people he needs to start anew. Get rid of Rove and Cheney. Rethink Iraq (not complete withdrawal but a new strategy). Appoint a Robert-esqe Supreme Court nominee. This would not signal weakness or defeat but an honest assessment of where the country is. I think most conservatives would welcome this move. Bush's message for the past eighteen months has been 'we need to stay the course' but this become ineffective when most people see the course as wrong.
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Removing Rove and Cheney is the last thing Bush needs to or even should consider, let alone do. I firmly feel that if Bush and crew were to boldly press a solid conservative agenda his numbers would be back up above 50%. What he may have needed was a spark, or should I say, what the base needed is a spark to help in that fight. The Meirs nomination, which I feel was safe and conservative, has shown the Conservative base a lesson in not taking anytihng for granted. The fight is not over, and in order to be prepared for the hard battle ahead, the base had to go into the fight ready, willing and able. It is now.
The CIA leak situation is hardly close to a scandal. Lets look at who and what was brought up on charges. 1 person was charged, and it wasn't even for the reasons of the Grand Jury, but rather statements made to the Grand Jury. Facts speak for themself, and V. Plane was known, by that name as Joe Wilson's wife and working for a CIA front company months before the J. Miller article. What Bill & Hillary would do on a Sunday morning before church is more corrupt than anything Bush has done.
In the end I see the 06 election with the GOP keeping both the House and Senate, and I see the House pushing forward a strong conservative agenda. We can do our part in Michigan by helping Sen. Stabenow find the unemployement line.
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