For Bush in Last Year, It's the Principle

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"Don't ever underestimate the leverage of the presidency," said a senior White House official, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly. "Many of us here still believe there are a number of things that will get done."

Bush has shown he is willing to push measures without Congress, such as his recent release of $200 million in emergency food aid. He also signaled this week that he will not hesitate to veto legislation, as he did with a law expanding a children's health insurance program.

One initiative that appears doomed, however, is the Colombia deal. It would lift barriers on U.S. goods, but Democrats oppose it because they say it lacks protection for Colombian workers.

After Bush surprised Democrats by submitting the pact to Congress in April, Pelosi engineered a rule change to block the measure. Although Bush himself declared the agreement dead without Pelosi's cooperation, he has focused on the issue repeatedly over the last four weeks, including during a visit yesterday to an information technology company in St. Louis.

"I think it's irresponsible," Bush said of Democrats' opposition.

Democrats say that on Colombia and other issues, Bush is marginalizing himself by repeatedly snubbing congressional leaders rather than attempting to work with them. Pelosi has said Bush must agree to additional economic measures to help struggling U.S. families before Democrats will vote on the Colombia pact.

"He gets his ideas set, and he won't change them," said Brendan Daly, Pelosi's spokesman. "That's just sort of the way he is."

But administration officials, legislative aides and many experts agree that the political pressures facing any president are powerful during the last year, noting that nearly every president since Harry S. Truman has left office with little to show for his final year.

"It's always difficult for a president to have any substantial receptivity to initiatives during the last year in office, particularly when the campaign season takes over," said Nicholas E. Calio, Bush's first legislative affairs director. "I don't think there's a possibility of much accommodation here."

White House aides said Bush's energy has not flagged, and he regularly stresses the urgency of finding solutions for the slowing economy and for rising food and energy prices. But there are signs he may be glimpsing the end of the tunnel.

In St. Louis yesterday, Bush visited a classroom equipped with laptops that linked employees in various offices, including one in his home state of Texas.

Talking to an employee in Dallas, Bush quipped: "Tell everybody down there, in about 10 months I'm coming home."

Staff writer Sandhya Somashekhar in St. Louis contributed to this report.