Guardian, UK: Besieged Bush faces attacks from friends as well as foes [View All]

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Besieged Bush faces attacks from friends as well as foes

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1604573,00.html


As the President sees his ambitious plans for his second term mired in a swamp of scandal and investigations, Paul Harris maps out what the future may hold for the radical Republican revolution and the divided Democrats

Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer

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These are times of deep crisis in America. The stunning image of FBI agents scouring the most exclusive suburbs of Washington, just a mile or so from the White House, sums up the mood of fear, paranoia and siege mentality now gripping the Bush administration.

President George Bush has just had the worst single week of his political life. It first saw the 2,000th US soldier die in Iraq. Then came the humiliation of Harriet Miers withdrawing her candidacy for the Supreme Court. Finally, came the hammer blow of Plamegate that saw top White House aide Lewis 'Scooter' Libby face five criminal charges and perhaps a lengthy jail term.

And there is no end in sight to the troubles. Bush's political guru Karl Rove is still under the shadow of investigation by the Plamegate prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. A trickle of former allies, friends and colleagues have also begun openly to turn on Bush. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, has blasted the march to war with Iraq, blaming it on a right-wing 'cabal' in the administration. Brent Scowcroft, a close confidant of Bush's father, has also gone public. He last week slammed the war in Iraq and revealed the younger Bush had not spoken to him in two years.

That sums up Bush's mood: bitter and angry at his perceived enemies who are then cast out of the inner circle. The formerly watertight Bush White House is starting to leak badly, revealing an inside picture of a President furious at the way his second term has collapsed around him and unwilling to blame himself for any of the disasters. Bush has always had a temper, but now reports of furious tirades against senior staff, and even of rows between Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, have begun to emerge.

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That is typical of the mood of many senior figures in the Democratic Party. The Democrats are still engaged in a bout of introspection after last year's devastating loss. In fact, far from being able to capitalise on Bush's many crises, they are also in danger of becoming a victim of them. Iraq has split the Democrats. The favourite to secure the 2008 nomination, Hillary Clinton, is a hawk on Iraq. She has campaigned for a bigger military and refused to condemn the war. Kerry meanwhile - at last - has come out punching, sounding like his 1960s Vietnam protester incarnation. 'Despite all the troubles of the Republicans, the Democrats have not got a single message of a positive alternative to the Republicans,' said Haas 'The message, "We are not those guys", will not be enough.'