Monday, December 12, 2005

In Search of the Ellusive Mojo

Stories on how President Bush can bounce back from his second-term slump are all the rage these days. Some common elements:

* The president will lay fairly low until after the mid-term elections in November 2006 and then devote the last two years of his presidency to fixing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Translation: No one has figured out how to keep the slump from becoming a long slide.

* Vice President Cheyney has been told to cut back to a schedule “a little more reflective of his age, station and health,” as Time magazine put it.

Translation: The bleeding won’t stop until Cheyney is defanged.

* The president is looking for a replacement for Karl Rove.

Translation: Their relationship has never recovered from the fact that Rove lied to his boss, just like everyone else, about his role in the CIA leak scandal.

* The president’s biggest weakness remains the fact that he is isolated and out of touch with the American mainstream.

Translation: Who needs one?

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