Bush

Very quickly, the momentum in Washington has shifted, said Dana Milbank in The Washington Post. President Bush looked like a lame-duck president just several weeks ago, his popularity drained away because of the Iraq war, his handling of Hurricane Katrina, the Dubai port brouhaha, and a string of other fiascoes. But a spate of unexpected good news has given Bush a big lift. In Iraq, terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead and the country's Cabinet has been filled. Last week, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald announced that he wouldn't charge Bush's chief political guru, Karl Rove, in the CIA leak affair. Bush's Gallup Poll approval rating is up to 38 percent'”not good, to be sure, but much better than his 29 percent of just a short while ago. Practically overnight, said Thomas DeFrank in the New York Daily News, 'œdowncast Republicans are talking a far more bullish game.'

There's more than just dumb luck operating here, said Sheryl Gay Stolbeg in The New York Times. In the two months that he's been on the job, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten has brought order and political savvy to the previously chaotic Bush team. He's instilled new confidence in his economic policies by recruiting Henry Paulson, former chief executive at Goldman Sachs, as Treasury secretary. He's brought in Tony Snow, a Fox News veteran, to present a more reasoned and self-confident face for the administration as its chief spokesman. Bolten has also relieved Rove of managing policy and 'œinstructed him to focus on politics' so he can help Republicans in the midterm elections. The question now, said the Financial Times in an editorial, is if the good news will keep coming, or if it's just a 'œ'dead-cat bounce' before the White House gets sucked back into the quagmires of its own making.'

A major comeback is unlikely, said Peter Baker in The Washington Post. Remember how elated Republicans were after the capture of Saddam Hussein? Bush got a four-point bump in the polls, but it lasted only two months, demonstrating 'œhow transitory a single moment of victory can be.' Despite some hopeful signs in Iraq, the problems there remain numerous and 'œdaunting,' including horrific sectarian killings, untrustworthy security forces, inadequate electricity, and growing Iraqi resentment of U.S. troops. Bush's nadir may be behind him, said Tod Lindberg in The Washington Times, but the next two and a half years of his presidency will remain contentious and fraught with problems. 'œI doubt he will ever again enjoy high job-approval ratings. The trick for him now is to realize he can govern effectively without them.'

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Frank Rich

The New York Times