Markets Vote 'No' on Bush

The Roanoke Times writes: "Laws requiring preservation of White House communication are designed to ensure a more complete and accurate retelling of history.

"That appears to be exactly what the Bush White House has been striving mightily to prevent.

"These e-mails may never be able to be recovered. But Congress should conduct a full investigation to ensure that future administrations realize the law cannot be ignored without consequence."

U.S. Attorney Watch

Manu Raju writes in The Hill: "The federal investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys could jolt the political landscape ahead of the November elections, according to several people close to the inquiry.

"Washington's attention has been diverted from the scandal since the August resignation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general."

But Raju describes "a sprawling inquiry launched by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

"Investigators from these offices have been questioning whether senior officials lied to Congress, violated the criminal provisions in the Hatch Act, tampered with witnesses preparing to testify to Congress, obstructed justice, took improper political considerations into account during the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys and created widespread problems in the department's Civil Rights Division, according to several people familiar with the investigation."

Bush's Dwindling Foreign Policy

Paul Richter writes in the Los Angeles Times: "The Bush administration is beginning its last year in office by quietly scaling back its foreign policy ambitions as it struggles with new obstacles and rapidly dwindling influence.

"Only a few months ago, senior officials predicted that before their exit, they could deliver the Middle East peace deal that had eluded so many predecessors. But this month, as President Bush toured Israel and the West Bank, officials made it clear that the deal he's now talking about is not a long-awaited final agreement, but a preliminary pact to set the terms for talks.

"In addition, the administration's efforts to get North Korea and Iran to end their nuclear programs have suffered deflating setbacks in recent weeks. And although the administration's greatest foreign policy undertaking, Iraq, has seen encouraging security improvements, the goal of Iraqi political reconciliation remains distant.

"The upshot is that the Bush administration is going to be spending the next year managing crises and tidying up messes until the next president takes over, rather than reaching legacy milestones, as officials recently had hoped.

What's the White House spin? Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "With one year left in the White House, Bush is trying to turn the normal plight of a lame-duck president to his advantage in an effort to salvage his foreign-policy legacy -- not only seeking an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal but also attempting to stabilize Iraq, isolate Iran and curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.