Bush Poll and White House Woes

If the election were held today Kentucky's voters say they would not choose Bush. I would feel better about this news if there really were an election on the horizon. Instead, we are stuck with W. What the ratings have done is make it more difficult to push his choices on the public.

Harriet Miers is the latest casualty of the ratings. She has withdrawn her name from consideration for the Supreme Court. I am not going to argue that the nominee was a good choice. Miers was not qualified. She had no judicial experience. But her decision comes at a tense time for President Bush. Many of his senior staff people face possible indictments in connection with the CIA leak. He efforts to push through Social Security changes failed to gain public approval even though he crossed the nation campaigning for his program. His appointments of cronies to key positions led to much of the mishandling of hurricane relief. The war and rising death tolls weigh heavy on his approval ratings. Many are beginning to believe that involving the nation in Iraq was a well-organized campaign of misinformation.

Bush has other problems. His reluctance to give up vacation time during a national crisis received harsh comparisons to his willingness to return to Washington to posture over one brain dead Florida woman. His approval has been falling, not just in Kentucky, but all across the nation. There are even rumors that he has returned to drinking as the nation questions his leadership.

I only have one question. Why now? Nothing has really changed about the way our president does his job. He is exactly the same man doing exactly the same posturing, stumbling, and making foolish mistakes he was the first four years of his administration. We don't get second chances to judge the character of candidates running for office. The weight of this presidency is on our shoulders for a long time to come.