Nation Wants a New Direction

Jon Cohen and Jennifer Agiesta write in The Washington Post that "optimism about the nation's direction has dipped to its lowest point in more than a decade, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

"Nearly eight in 10 now think the country is 'pretty seriously' off track."

Seeing a trend? As we approach the final year of Bush's term in office, 80 percent of Americans -- four out of five -- are eager to put him and his presidency behind them.

So is it any surprise that the presidential candidates in both parties are talking so much about change?

Not to Bush, apparently. But he has an explanation. And in his view, it's nothing personal.

From a short interview with NBC's David Gregory last week:

Gregory: "Do you see this message of change as anything other than a rejection of your presidency?"

Bush: "No, listen, if you're running for office, you can't run for office and not say, 'I am an agent of change.' That's just American politics. And if I were running for office at this point, I'd be saying, 'Vote for me. I'm going to be an agent of change.'"

Opinion Watch

E. J. Dionne Jr. writes in his Washington Post opinion column today: "The turmoil in the Republican presidential contest, which seems to produce a new front-runner every month, stems from President Bush's unpopularity and the fact that even members of his own party want to turn the page on the past seven years. . . .

"[W]ith the president's standing in the polls remaining low and the public's intense desire for change spilling across party boundaries, Bush may find himself on the sidelines, watching a campaign built around a bipartisan repudiation of his legacy."

Bush and the NIE

When the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran was released late last year, reporting that the nation's intelligence agencies had concluded that Iran shelved its nuclear weapons program four years ago, Bush responded with some serious verbal jujitsu, trying to make the case that the report actually vindicated his white-hot hostility toward that regime.

I led yesterday's column with Michael Hirsh's story in Newsweek, reporting that Bush had "all but disowned the document" in private conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week.