Bush suffering second-term doldrums

Washington — Wracked by war, singed by scandals and checked by the surprising vigor of his domestic foes, President Bush's second term has gotten off to a listless start that, if not soon remedied, could penalize his party in next year's elections and taint his presidency, political strategists and professionals say.

The war in Iraq continues to claim lives and money, with as many setbacks as tangible signs of progress. August has been as costly a period, in terms of U.S. combat deaths, as any since the fall of Baghdad.

Despite his best efforts, Bush's major domestic initiative — the politically arduous transformation of Social Security into a private-public system — has stalled in the Republican-controlled Congress.

And top GOP strategists — like House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and other Bush aides — are distracted by federal investigations of their professional conduct.

Republican allies on Capital Hill have openly bucked the White House on matters like pork-barrel spending and stem-cell research. An otherwise rosy economic picture has been undermined by soaring health care costs and gasoline prices.

"If I was sitting in Karl Rove's job I would not be overly encouraged," said GOP strategist Ed Rollins. "There has been no good news since January . . . the president's Social Security bill has not gained anything . . . the war in Iraq has not progressed as anybody would wish."

Current public-opinion polls give Bush his lowest approval rating in office. After averaging a 62 percent approval rating during his first term, just 44 percent of respondents now approve of his performance, a recent national Gallup poll found.

According to Gallup, Bush ranks behind Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton and Truman and is on par with Richard Nixon (44 percent amid the Watergate crisis) and Lyndon Johnson (42 percent during the Vietnam War) at comparable times in their presidencies.

"You have an 18-month window, normally, in a second term to get significant legislation through," said David Gergen, an analyst and adviser who has served in both Democratic and Republican White Houses, at an American Enterprise Institute forum on second-term presidencies. "That window may have shut very prematurely on (Bush).

"The almost uniform feeling is that his second term is now joining the pantheon of other unmemorable second terms," Gergen said.