Bush's woes pile up as election beckons

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=501668

Last year, almost everything went right for Mr Bush;not any longer. The failure to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the grim state of the jobs market in the United States and the unexpected aggressive performance of Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, have combined to push the President's approval rating down to 50 per cent. On top of this comes the stunning defeat for José Maria Aznar in Spain.

The repudiation by a major ally of Mr Bush's war in Iraq has come at the worst possible moment for him: just as the White House attempts to use the first anniversary of the invasion to justify its policies.

The Spanish election outcome is a setback in domestic political terms too, as Mr Bush gears up for a re-election campaign that looks much trickier than it did a month ago. Most ominous of all, perhaps, is that the closely watched, "Is the country on the right track?" political barometer has shifted sharply against Mr Bush, with Americans saying ­ by a 60 per cent to 39 per cent margin in a new Gallup poll yesterday ­ that the US is headed in the wrong direction.

This carefully marshalled case for the war is overshadowed by the events in Spain. Moreover, the White House PR offensive will be countered by demonstrations, culminating with what anti-war protest groups claim will be 200 events across the country on Saturday, the exact anniversary of the bombing raids on Baghdad that signalled the start of the war.