Boos for Bush

Eastern Europe would once have seemed safe territory for Bush -- it may be the only region in the world largely supportive of his war in Iraq. But John D. McKinnon writes in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) that "the mood among many Eastern European leaders toward the U.S. president is growing less enthusiastic, even as they continue to pour outsized numbers of troops into the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, compared with their Western European counterparts."

John Ibbitson writes in Toronto's Globe and Mail: "All presidents in the final year of a final mandate are lame ducks. But Mr. Bush is experiencing something unheard of for a U.S. president. He's being ignored. . . .

"The U.S. economy teeters on the brink of recession, threatened by falling home prices and worthless mortgages; even Wall Street has lost confidence in Wall Street.

"What is the President doing to avert the crisis? Who cares? Economically, what really matters is what Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is doing. Politically, what matters is what Mr. McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton say they would be doing if they were in charge. . . .

"The problem is that Mr. Bush's legacy is unambiguously dismal. He is leaving the economy in worse shape than he found it, with an extra $4-trillion added to the national debt for good measure.

"He presided over a vast expansion, and abuse, of the powers of his office. The legacy of Guantanamo, torture and wiretaps will not soon be forgotten.

"The war on terror has had few tangible successes and many apparent failures. And elsewhere in foreign policy, the record has been bleak. . . .

"Mr. Bush, it has been said, compares himself to Harry Truman, a president who left office dogged by an unpopular war and low public approval, but who is today viewed as one the 20th century's finest presidents.

"It is possible that posterity will be equally kind to Mr. Bush. But if you're going to compare yourself to Mr. Truman, it helps to have your own equivalent of the Marshall Plan, the containment policy against Russia, the formation of NATO, the defence of South Korea and desegregation of the armed forces on your r¿sum¿. What in the Bush legacy even comes close?"

Another Cheney Backfire?

Vice President Cheney visits Iraq, and just over a week later, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launches a surprise attack on political rivals in Basra. Just a coincidence? Or another spectacular Cheney backfire? You decide.

There's little doubt that Cheney went to Iraq with two things most on his mind: The continued U.S. troop presence and the threat posed by Iran. A bold and successful move by Maliki would have been a huge PR victory for the central government -- and if it increased tensions with Iran, all the better.

The White House evidently had high hopes. Bush on Friday described "what's taking place in Basra and in other parts of Iraq" as "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq."