Dysfunctional Administration.

It has appeared recently that Tom DeLay and his cronies are in control of the Republican Party not the Bush/Rove machine. As Bush tries to build his legacy he has found little support from DeLay's congressional delegation. A prime example is Social Security privitization which it seems that no one outside the administration is trying to sell. In his column yesterday Robert Novak suggest that much of the problem is the Bush administrations lack of congressional relations. Karl Rove's hubris and arrogance may finally be coming back to haunt him.

A senior Republican senator who avoids the headlines and tries to help President Bush as much as possible was discussing with me two weeks ago the problems of seeking Social Security reform. Then he said something that surprised me: "I have been around awhile, and this is the worst administration at congressional relations that I have ever been associated with."

I checked with several Republicans in both the House and Senate, and all agreed more or less with that assessment. Last week, I asked an administration official who is willing to speak his mind so long as his name won't be used. "I don't know that much about Congress," he said, "but I do believe this is a dysfunctional administration."

And it's not just congressional relations. Novak goes on to point out they can't fill jobs. We saw evidence of this when they all but fired Treasury Secretary John Snow and then had to ask him to stay on when they couldn't find anyone else to take the job.

Unfilled jobs have been a chronic problem in this administration -- especially at the Treasury, where several key posts always seem empty. Recently, the vacant offices have included deputy secretary and undersecretary for international affairs. The latest of multiple vacancies in the deputy's post occurred when Samuel Bodman was named secretary of energy without anyone ready to replace him at Treasury.

The number of unfilled Pentagon positions now rival those at Treasury. Since Paul Wolfowitz had been earmarked as World Bank president for some time, it might be supposed that his successor as deputy secretary of defense would be standing beside him when he was named. But that is not the way the Bush White House works.

Novak then points out that Bush has gotten much of what he wanted up until now, but........

So what if his administration looks dysfunctional? In basketball, it is called winning ugly. The trouble is that a team that wins ugly sometimes starts losing.

It looks like we may be seeing that very early in Bush's second term. Not a good way to build a legacy.