WASHINGTON- Mother Barbara taught him how to read. She couldn't teach him how to govern. Too bad.
President George W. Bush was at his reading best last weekend, with a well-written, clever speech at the annual Gridiron Club dinner. He wowed the audience, made up largely of journalists and government sources.
But the other Bush, the one whose job approval ratings are well below 40 percent, is so politically weak there's a move afoot to censure him and impeachment talk fills the air. He's made so many foreign and domestic policy blunders that his own congressional Republican troops are deserting him and he gets little public respect.
Yet for a few minutes he charmed a roomful of opinion makers who don't think much of him. It's a pity the charm didn't last. Chuckles, while nice, are no substitute for good judgment...
Now that Bush has lost control of the public agenda, over which he used to have a firm grip, the question of how relevant he has become naturally arises. In a scathing article, this week's Time magazine suggests that the moment the Dubai company, DP World, pulled out of the ports deal may well mark the point Bush became a lame duck. <MORE>
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3612328