The recent White House shake-up was an attempt to jump-start the administration and boost President Bush's rock-bottom approval ratings, but have those efforts come too late to salvage the presidency? A prominent GOP pollster thinks that may be the case.
"This administration may be over," Lance Tarrance, a chief architect of the Republicans' 1960s and '70s Southern strategy, told a gathering of journalists and political wonks last week. "By and large, if you want to be tough about it, the relevancy of this administration on policy may be over."
Barring some extraordinary event Bush will never get his mojo back. I doubt we'll see poll numbers above about 42 until the end of the presidency where there might be the common "goodwill now that he's going out the door" poll bounce.
Of course, that won't prevent the administration from doing tremendous damage to our country and the institutions of government in the time it has left, along with leaving numerous traps for the next administration to set off.
The midterm elections will have some impact. If Republicans lose control they'll run from Bush at lightning speed. Then the presidential campaign begins.