Bush, Nancy Pelosi Try to Reconcile

President Bush pauses during a news conference, Wednesday in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) (Ron Edmonds - AP)

Bush rarely referred to Pelosi by name. But in speeches during the campaign he made "the person who wants to be speaker of the House" _ an idea that had him once snapping that "that's not going to happen" to an interviewer _ the poster child for all he saw wrong with Democrats.

Noting that she voted against renewing the USA Patriot Act, creating a Homeland Security Department, authorizing a warrantless wiretapping program and questioning terrorists in the way he had proposed, the president said, "Given the record of Democrats on our nation's security, I understand why they want to change the subject."

Because of Democratic calls for an Iraq exit strategy, Bush accused them of believing "the best way to protect the American people is wait until we're attacked again."

Wednesday, the president dismissed the bitter language as nothing more than campaign-trail heat.

"I understand when campaigns end, and I know when governing begins," he said.

Both sides have much at stake.

The last two years of a presidency are difficult times for any Oval Office occupant. In the twilight of power, they must fight lame-duck status to get anything done.

But Bush is heading into that perilous period after an Election Day that pried his party's grip from Capitol Hill, in voting widely seen as a rebuke of him and his leadership, particularly on Iraq.

That makes his domestic wish list _ such as adding private accounts to Social Security and permanently extending all tax cuts passed during his administration _ not much more than a fantasy, especially for a president who largely has ignored the same Democrats who now will control the legislative agenda.

Add to that the prospect of Democratic investigations into missteps in the war, treatment of terrorism detainees and Bush's expansion of executive power, and his next two years could be a headache.

Democrats, too, have much to lose. If seen as unproductive or too obstructionist, they risk losing their majority _ a very slim one in the Senate _ in two years. How they govern also could impact the party's chances in the wide-open race for the White House in 2008.

Hence all the happy talk about bipartisanship.