From Deseret News archives:
Bush, GOP could face rough road
The once-unshakable loyalty of congressional Republicans is weakening. After marching in lockstep with the White House for six years, GOP lawmakers are looking at the political calendar and thinking about their own futures rather than Bush's legacy in his last two years in office.
Republicans are in a sour mood, scarred by corruption scandals, held in low esteem by voters and divided over issues from deficit spending to immigration reform. Many GOP candidates shunned Bush in their campaigns, fearing he would hurt rather than help them.
With the end of the midterm elections and the opening of the 2008 presidential race, Republicans as well as Democrats will be telling the country how they would do things differently from Bush.
Already a huge headache, the Iraq war hangs over Bush as the dominant issue for the remainder of his presidency. Even before this year's elections, Republican senators — from Virginia's John Warner to Texas' Kay Bailey Hutchison — were questioning Bush's approach to Iraq, which this month will eclipse World War II in the length of U.S. involvement.
If Democrats should take the House or Senate, Bush's problems would only get worse.
Shut out of power for a dozen years and bitter at Bush for ignoring them, Democrats would demand a role in setting the nation's agenda and throw up roadblocks to the president's plans. Pressuring Bush on Iraq, Democrats would have subpoena powers to investigate the president's conduct of the war and to demand accountability.
The White House also could get snarled in Democratic-run investigations of issues ranging from Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy policy deliberations to White House links with Republican corruption scandals.
"It won't be a happy place to work in the next couple of years," said John Podesta, who has firsthand knowledge about running a White House in troubled times. He was Bill Clinton's chief of staff during the tumultuous days of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Clinton's impeachment.
"Whereas you had a kind of lapdog Congress in the past, you're going to have a significant challenge," Podesta said of Bush. "Even if the Republicans retain control, you'll see even more questioning on the Senate side."
With Democrats in charge, there would be little chance that Bush's prized tax cuts would be renewed. His drive to expand his executive authority and national security powers would be blocked.
Even with Republicans in control, Bush's agenda has been stalled, his blueprints for overhauling Social Security and immigration collecting dust.
Time and history are not on his side.
