Katie Couric's Notebook: The Second Term Curse
Video: From Watergate, to Iran-contra, to Monica, second-term presidents suffer scandals big and small -- and see their agendas take a back-seat to damage control.
President Bush--like all his predecessors--vowed he wouldn't catch the two term blues. But, beginning with Katrina, he's proven the rule, not the exception.
The latest scandal is at the Justice Department. Yesterday the Attorney General accepted responsibility for the way eight US attorneys were fired and said--in classic DC fashion--"mistakes were made." Republicans claim the dismissals were for poor performance. Democrats say they were politically motivated.
The bottom line? Alfred Zacher, a White House historian, says that second-term "presidents who experienced diminished effectiveness" were the ones whose party lost control of Congress. It remains to be seen whether President Bush can reverse the curse.
That's a page from my notebook.