The Magazine  The Sixth Year Slump  Bush may be down, but don't
count him out.  Oct 16, 2006, Vol. 12, No. 05 • By NOEMIE EMERY
Widget tooltip Single Page Print Larger Text Smaller Text Alerts
Now in the sixth year of his crisis-wracked presidency, George
W. Bush is perceived as being in desperate trouble, having spent
the two years since his reelection falling all over his feet.
His democracy project looks stalled, his drive to reform Social
Security seems to have been a huge waste of effort, his response
to Katrina was more like sleep-walking, his pick of his White
House counsel to fill a Supreme Court vacancy caused cardiac
arrest in his base. Opinions differ as to whether he is a dead
duck, or merely a lame one. Democrats claim he is going the way
of one-term fiascos Carter and Hoover, who not only failed in
themselves, but also ushered in long years of dominance by the
opposite party. History, however, suggests something different:
that sixth-year pain is nothing but normal, and has been shared
in some