Bush's efforts to rally the troops hampered by scandal, setbacks

WASHINGTON — Beginning the sixth year of his administration, President Bush is finding it harder and harder to rally support from within his own party for major initiatives.

When he goes to Capitol Hill to deliver his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, Bush will recite the usual litany of new proposals and pledges.

But with Social Security restructuring and many other ideas from his speech a year ago still bogged down, a raft of new programs may be the last thing the GOP troops want to hear.

Getting Republicans to leap to their feet in bursts of applause will not be enough this time. Bush also will have to keep Republicans from walking away from his agenda afterward.

Edgy about a burgeoning ethics scandal and other setbacks, Republicans are focusing on midterm elections in November that could return control of Congress to Democrats.

GOP budget hawks are troubled by a deficit that has increased in each of Bush's five years. Social conservatives dislike his immigration proposals.

Some Republicans are joining Democrats in questioning his use of the National Security Agency for spying, as part of the terrorism fight, within the United States.

"Running away from the president makes the situation worse," said Ed Goeas, a Republican pollster and strategist.

"In a nonpresidential year, many independents don't vote. And when you have both parties basically at parity, it's a matter of intensity on who comes out on top in those elections," he said.

"From the Republican standpoint, we need the president to continue using the bully pulpit — in terms of defining the economy, defining the war, defining the war on terrorism," Goeas said. "As opposed to that vacuum that was created last year where the Democrats defined the war and oil prices defined the economy."

There no doubt will be a lot of "bully pulpit" assertions and soaring rhetoric in the president's speech. After all, Bush's eye increasingly is on his legacy.

Bush and his top aides are working to turn controversy over the NSA's warrantless electronic eavesdropping into a campaign asset for Republicans — and a liability for Democrats — by portraying it as part of Bush's efforts to protect the country against terrorists.

"The program is legal," Bush told reporters Thursday. "And it's necessary."