Bush Tries to Gain Control of Agenda

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2007 — -- The White House is struggling to pursue President Bush's broad agenda that includes new health-care, energy and education initiatives as rising opposition to the Iraq War threatens to drown them out.

On Capitol Hill, the battle looming within Congress is over which bill opposing the administration's planned troop increase in Iraq will succeed -- not whether any will win.

On the National Mall that leads from the Capitol to the White House, the first protesters are already gathering for a massive anti-war rally this weekend. And in federal court, former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is on trial over the administration's effort to discredit an early critic of the war.

The frustration showed on Bush's face this morning, as he spoke perhaps more bluntly than ever about his new policy.

"I had to come up with a way forward that precluded disaster," Bush told reporters in a brief appearance with Gen. David Petraeus, approved today as the top commander on the ground in Iraq.

"I know there is some skepticism and some pessimism. … Some are condemning the plan before it even has a chance to work," Bush said.

In a separate interview recently, Vice President Dick Cheney expressed increasing pique.

"I think it's far too soon for the talking heads on television to conclude that it's impossible to do, it's not going to work, it can't possibly succeed," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer of the president's revamped plan for Iraq.

Pressed again, he targeted the media, saying, "Well, Wolf, if the history books were written by people who have, are so eager to write off this effort, to declare it a failure, including many of our friends in the media, the situation obviously would have been over a long time ago."

White House veterans and analysts say the signs suggest a bunker mentality for a White House frustrated over its efforts to govern and pursue a broader agenda when the administration seems to face criticism of the Iraq War at every turn.

Joe Lockhart, a spokesman for President Clinton, recalled the challenge of trying to govern as the president's agenda was overshadowed by an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky that led to an impeachment that ultimately failed.