Bush Feels The Heat

President's Sagging Popularity Worries White House

(CBS)  President Bush's sinking standing with the voters has become a source of concern for the White House and GOP officials.

The president has been under assault for months by the Democratic presidential wannabes, and there is reason to believe the attacks are having an impact.

Recent polls show the president's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since he became president. He has also come out on the short end of a hypothetical match-up with the Democratic front-runner, Sen. John Kerry.

The president will try to regain his political balance this weekend with an unusual one-hour appearance on NBC's "Meet The Press." Whether this gambit will meet with more success than his recent efforts to gain the upper hand remain to be seen.

The president scheduled his State of the Union speech to come one day after the Iowa caucus in a bid to deflect attention from the Democrats. But his speech was widely viewed as a disappointment, and it failed to boost his standing in the polls.

More recently, Mr. Bush has appeared to be following the Democrats around, going to New Hampshire following that state's Democratic primary. He was in another primary state - South Carolina - on Thursday, where he offered a strong defense of his decision to invade Iraq.

Several factors appear to account for the president's political weakness.

Implosion of Howard Dean

Until recent weeks, the former Vermont governor was the Democratic presidential front-runner, and many GOP officials viewed him as the weakest presidential candidate the Democrats could nominate.

But Dean's candidacy is now in serious jeopardy, and the current front-runner, Sen. John Kerry, is viewed as a much more dangerous rival for Mr. Bush. Kerry's nearest contender, Sen. John Edwards, is also viewed
as a much stronger rival than Dean.

The Democratic candidates went through a period of Dean-bashing while he led in the polls, but now most of them are back on a steady anti-Bush message that is received wide dissemination because of media interest in the Democratic race.

Iraq

The president's rationale for going to war has been seriously undercut by former U.S. weapons inspector David Kay, who has declared Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. White House officials had expected Kay to fade into the woodwork when he left his post, but that hasn't been the case. Kay has testified before Congress and granted several media interviewrs.

Family Woes

Mr. Bush angered some Republicans by seriously underestimating the cost of the Medicare drug benefit approved by Congress. The enormous deficit projected for next year's federal budget has done nothing to improve the situation.

Economy

Mr. Bush received a dose of good news on Friday, with word that the unemployment rated had dipped to 5.6 percent as the economy created 112,000 new jobs in January. Nevertheless, the labor market is still a political weak spot for the president.

The economy has lost more than 2 million jobs since Mr. Bush took office, giving him the worst job creation record of any president since Herbert Hoover. Analysts say monthly payroll gains of 300,000 or more are needed for sustained job growth, and the economy remains far from that mark.

The Washington Post reported Friday that Mr. Bush's decision to appear on "Meet The Press" stemmed from his desire to defend his Iraq policy in the face of intense criticism from Democrats.

His appearance in South Carolina was also part of the effort to defend his foreign policy record.

"The liberation of Iraq was an act of justice, delivering an oppressed people from an evil regime," he said.

The president has also moved to defuse the furor generated by Kay's statement that there are no weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush is appointing a blue-ribbon panel that will investigate the intelligence failure.