WASHINGTON -- President Bush's slumping popularity at home may be taking a toll on his ability to exert influence overseas.
Just a few years ago, rival and allied nations alike fretted that a cocky Bush administration was attempting to impose its will around the world.
Such swagger is harder to find these days.
As Bush prepares to depart Monday on a trip to Asia, questions abound about the global consequences of a U.S. president hobbled by domestic setbacks.
In recent weeks, his administration has:
_Seen its proposal for a Western Hemisphere-wide free-trade pact torpedoed during Bush's trip to Latin America. Several other of his trade initiatives are in jeopardy, too.
_Failed to persuade the U.N. nuclear watchdog to refer Iran's suspect nuclear activities to the Security Council for possible penalties.
_Ran into more obstacles in six-country talks over North Korea's nuclear agenda.
_Clashed with major European allies which, for the first time, joined other countries in supporting a move to wrest administrative control over the Internet from the United States.
"Behind the scenes, there's a recognition that the United States is tied down somewhat in Iraq and preoccupied domestically, and that this is a tough time for the Bush administration," said Kurt Campell, who was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and the Pacific during the Clinton administration.
"It comes at a time when China's stock is extremely high in Asia as a whole. There's a growing recognition that China has taken enormous advantage of the challenges facing the Bush administration, in Iraq and elsewhere, to consolidate its gains in Asia," said Campell, now with the Center for International and Strategic Studies.
In Europe, Bush's principal Iraq war partner, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is reeling from political woes of his own.
