The latest crisis in the Middle East has disrupted President Bush's plans domestically and internationally at a sensitive juncture, reopening divisions with allies abroad and jeopardizing attempts to restore public confidence at home, according to officials, analysts and diplomats.
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For the president, the timing could not be much worse. In a second term marked by one setback after another, the White House was in the midst of a rebuilding effort aimed at a political comeback before November's critical midterm elections.....
Bush advisers who have been buffeted in the past year by a catastrophic hurricane, rising gasoline prices, a failed Social Security initiative, Republican revolts, criminal investigations and a relentless overseas war said they have grown accustomed to constant crisis. "This is a new normal for our administration in the last couple years," said one senior official. "You begin to expect the unexpected."
The priority for Bush will be turning short-term predicament into long-term opportunity. "Right now, with the images coming out of Lebanon, the situation with people trying to get out, I'm sure that's unsettling for people," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy. "But as this thing unfolds over the next few weeks, and they see the international response, it could provide a moment when the public sees the stakes as well and why we're doing what we're doing in the broader Middle East."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601815.html
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