Second Term Quagmire

"I've earned capital in this election and I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I'd spend it on: Social Security, tax reform, moving the economy forward, education and winning the war on terrorism," Bush told reporters two days after he won re-election.

Troubles mount in White House, Bush agenda bogged down

Three months into his second term, however, Bush's bold agenda is bogged down by public skepticism about some of his proposals, growing resistance from Democrats, dissension within his party's ranks and what some analysts consider second-term hubris.


With gas prices near record highs and stock markets jittery, Bush's drive for privatized Social Security accounts has been met by deep public skepticism. His judicial nominees are stalled, his choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is stuck in committee, and his job-approval rating recently dropped to 45 percent, the lowest of his presidency and well below that of other recent second-term presidents.


Recent surveys have found a disconnect between most Americans' mainly economic priorities and the White House's and the Republican Congress' preoccupation with issues ranging from Terri Schiavo to plans to kill the filibuster.

Over at Make Them Accountable Carolyn Kay thinks Bush's problems are at least partially the result of the Democrats showing some backbone.

It’s at least possible that part of the reason for Bush’s slide in the polls is the Democrats’ resistance to him. Surely a lot of people believed that when the Democrats didn't fight Bush, there must have been nothing wrong with what he was doing.

I think it is largely because of the administration's own mis-steps, Karl may have lost his Midas touch. It is now obvious the Social Security initiative was a mistake. The fact that the stock market decided to go south in the middle of it didn't help. The attempted intervention in the Terri Schiavo case was another major error on Rove's part. Let's be honest, the Democrats really didn't find their backbone until the administration became stuck in the quagmire of hubris. Even now the Democrat's backbone seems a little weak. Liberal Oasis reports there are rumors that Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid was trying to cut a deal with the GOP, where he’d end the filibuster on some of the controversial judges in exchange for scrapping the nuclear option. There have been persistent rumors of Democratic Senators talking compromise on Social Security. We have the Republicans on the run, this is not the time for compromise on anything.