Can Bush Pull a Clinton?

March 10, 2006 — -- After Bill Clinton's surprisingly strong showing in the 1992 New Hampshire presidential primary, he reveled in being tabbed "The Comeback Kid." George W. Bush who likes nicknames -- for other people -- now has the chance to pull off his own comeback.

Of course, he would rather not have to stage a recovery. He would rather be riding high in the polls and in firm command of the Republican troops on Capitol Hill. The reality, though, is that he is in a heap of political trouble. But it's way, way too early to start writing his political obituary, despite the embarrassing, some would say devastating, defeat he suffered on the Dubai ports deal.

Congressional Republicans say he lost that fight because of White House incompetence and arrogance. Republican members had gone back to their districts and taken the pulse of voters. It was obvious that they simply did not want a company based in the Mideast in charge of American ports. National polls showed the same thing. Still, President Bush hung tough with his threat to veto any bill that would kill the takeover by the Dubai-owned company. Only when Republican leaders told him Congress would override his veto did he buckle. The White House and Bush's friends in Congress privately asked the company, DP World, to fold its cards. It did.

The Dubai debacle is only the latest of the president's problems. After his re-election in 2004, he boasted that he had accumulated political capital and intended to use it. He made a valiant try by taking on Social Security, but his plan went nowhere.

On top of that, polls showed Americans were losing confidence in his handling of Iraq. Then came the Katrina disaster and the government's weak response. Now, the big question in Washington is whether Bush has suffered irreparable damage: Has he become irrelevant?

The same question was asked during Clinton's presidency after Republicans took control of Capitol Hill. It was a silly question then. It is a silly question now. In Clinton's case, he used the power of the veto to remind Congress and the nation that any president is very much relevant.