Bush Gets the Bum's Rush

"By almost every objective standard, Bush will leave his party worse off than it was when he was nominated eight years ago in Philadelphia. During his tenure, the GOP lost control of Congress and its dominance of statehouses slipped while losing about 200 seats in state legislatures. More than half of registered voters now identify themselves as Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents -- a tilt that is significantly more Democratic than at this time in any of the past three presidential election cycles. And Republicans enter the final stretch of the campaign season at a substantial financial disadvantage compared with their rivals.

"A McCain victory could radically change this picture. But every bit of evidence suggests that Bush and longtime political adviser Karl Rove were unable to achieve their ambitious and long-held objectives of expanding the GOP base and creating a durable Republican majority. Their hope of ending traditional Democratic dominance on such issues as health care (with a new Medicare prescription drug plan) and education (with the No Child Left Behind law) while growing the GOP tent to include more Latinos and African Americans has all but ended. Younger voters are fleeing the GOP in droves, prompting fears that if there is a party realignment, it probably will be a Democratic one. The Iraq war, meanwhile, has eroded the Republicans' traditional advantage on national security issues."

Rove, not surprisingly, doesn't share that analysis. He tells Abramowitz: "There was a systematic effort by liberal opponents of this administration to say two things: that he lied about the war and that he was incompetent. Neither is correct. . . . He was a successful president because he tackled big issues, bigger than his predecessor was willing to take on. In some he succeeded and in some he did not, but always he led."

Laying Low

Bush is going a long way for a quick photo op today, traveling three and a half hours in either direction to spend 30 minutes in Baton Rouge, for a briefing on storm damage.

After that, his schedule is bare: Three days at Camp David, capped by a Tee Ball game on the White House lawn Sunday afternoon.

That's the Drill

Ben Feller writes for the Associated Press: "Just one day after Hurricane Gustav lashed the Gulf Coast with much less intensity than first feared, President Bush pivoted back to politics on Tuesday. . . .

"Bush turned a hurricane statement into a case for oil drilling and blasted a familiar target: the Democratic Congress, which is less popular than he is. . . .

"A lashing at lawmakers for inaction is not unusual from Bush. But this one was. Timing and context can change everything in politics.

"It was only Sunday, with a natural disaster looming, that Sen. John McCain ordered his party to take off its Republican hats and wear American ones. A deadly storm that might rival Hurricane Katrina was looming, so the Republican National Convention was cut back. Business-as-usual partisanship was declared out of order.

"Then a weaker storm hit, the federal response went well, and the country seemed to take a collective sigh of relief.

"So Bush put that Republican hat right back on. . . .

"White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president was not being partisan.