Losing the Spotlight

Say what you will about his policies, there is little doubt that President Bush has been the brilliantly-lit star of the Washington show ever since he moved into the White House in 2001.

But this week, the spotlight may be out of his control.

Over in Congress, there's the increased scrutiny of Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ethics. There's the possibly derailing nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the UN. There's the mounting pressure from the religious right and the vice president to go nuclear in the Senate and ban filibusters for judicial nominations.

The American public is preoccupied with gas prices, but in spite of Bush's meeting today with the Saudis, there's apparently little that he is willing or able to do about it.

And while people are talking about Social Security, most of the talk is not what the White House had in mind.

About the worst thing that can happen to a president is for people to stop paying attention.

A Troubled Second Term

Matthew Cooper writes for Time.com: "This is the spring of Bush's discontent. Inside the White House, there's a recognition that this is a difficult period for the president -- not 9/11 difficult, not blowing-the-first-presidential-debate difficult, but frustrating nonetheless. He must sell a Social Security package that seems to be losing ground with the public and Congress. His 60-day tour to sell the plan seems to have only diminished support for the proposal. Overall, the president's approval rating has been softening, hovering below the 50% mark in a number of public and private polls.

"And it's more than Social Security that's diminishing those numbers. There's the economy, which has shown signs of weakness -- market jitters, alarming trade deficits and high oil prices. With the Iraq issue settling into an uncomfortable background of casualties-and-baby-steps-toward-democracy, there's no galvanizing terror issue to give Bush his usual lift in the polls.

"This isn't likely to change anytime soon."

William Douglas, James Kuhnhenn and Steven Thomma write for Knight Ridder Newspapers: "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 including Terri Schiavo and plans to kill the filibuster."