Laura Bush's Coming-Out Party

"With this grand and planned coming out of her shell, the White House's writer provided the first lady a scripted shellacking with little off limits -- not the president's ranch in Crawford, not the Bush family compound at Kennebunkport, Maine, and not the president's mother, Barbara Bush."

An Administration Adrift?

The press is marking the end of Bush's 60-days of barnstorming on Social Security and the end of the first 100 days of his second term with a multitude of assessments.

John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei write in The Washington Post about the contrast between the heady post-election days and today.

Back then: "Among campaign strategists and academics, there was ample speculation that Bush's victory, combined with incremental gains in the Republican congressional majority, signaled something fundamental: a partisan and ideological 'realignment' that would reshape politics over the long haul."

But now: "As the president passed the 100-day mark of his second term over the weekend, the main question facing Bush and his party is whether they misread the November elections. With the president's poll numbers down, and the Republican majority ensnared in ethical controversy, things look much less like a once-a-generation realignment.

"Instead, some political analysts say it is just as likely that Washington is witnessing a happens-all-the-time phenomenon -- the mistaken assumption by politicians that an election won on narrow grounds is a mandate for something broad. In Bush's case, this includes restructuring Social Security and the tax code and installing a group of judges he was unable to seat in his first term."

The Committee That Runs the World

Is part of the problem that power has become too centralized -- among just two people?

Holly Bailey and Richard Wolffe write in Newsweek about how "the president's relationship with his own party has faltered on the high-profile nomination, as well as other priorities like Social Security. Members of Congress have long complained about the Bushies' imperial attitude. Now, some suggest the White House team -- headed by a former Dick Cheney aide Candi Wolff -- may be too far outside the loop of power. It takes a call from the Committee That Runs the World -- Karl Rove and Cheney -- to lobby Congress effectively. Last week, both were working the phones on Bolton's behalf.

"Whatever happens to Bolton's nomination, his public mauling underscores how the president has struggled in the first 100 days of his second term. On the single issue that seems to trouble voters most -- the high price of gasoline -- Bush found himself in the uncomfortable position of asking for help, first from Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. On Social Security, Republicans find themselves divided. Then there's the problem of a runaway Congress, diverted by the fate of Tom DeLay, the ethically challenged House Republican leader. Bush tried to regain the initiative with his Thursday-night prime-time news conference. But Republicans hardly cheered at the prospect of selling benefit cuts in Social Security, and Bush himself conceded that he had 'no quick fix' for high gas prices. With his approval ratings slipping, Bush looks like he's running low on his precious supply of political capital."

Or Are Things Turning Around?