Bush's Cure

CQ.com

The president can easily turn this around and get his groove back. For starters, though, he has to stop talking so much.

You know that when relatively objective analysts are saying that the best thing you can do to regain your popularity is to shut the hell up, your problems are usually a tad deeper than just sagging poll numbers.

Maybe if Bush had actually ... oh, I dunno ... CAMPAIGNED on the premise that he was going to set a priority on radically altering the social safety net that's pretty much made this country what it is over the past half century. Maybe if he governed anything like how he campaigned. Maybe ... But he ain't. And though Team Bush has shown a stellar capacity to regain JUST enough popularity to win an election, they've now proven for one and all that they know crap about governing. And with that, Bush now faces two perilous choices: be quiet and be popular ... or talk and exert leadership on issues and drag your party down with each "bold and decisive" declaration.