President George W. Bush is now slowly twisting in the wind, disregarded by the Democrats, disliked by the country and increasingly disdained by his own party. The defeat of the immigration bill shows that all three are in play.
He needs to get back in the game. The key is to take some large policy — like Iranian nuclear weapons — and make it his own. Bush’s flip-flops on climate change and his vigor in prosecuting Sudan are steps in the right direction, but he needs to get his head back in the game of deterring Iran’s nuclear ambitions. That subject has long been the only one with the tensile strength to overcome Iraq in the voters’ minds. He should begin acting like he is president again and taking this issue and making it his centerpiece.