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WASHINGTON, Feb 19: Since the beginning of 2004, President George W. Bush has suffered one political misfire after another, prompting some Republicans to wonder anxiously when the White House political machine will get in gear.
"This may have been the worst six weeks of Bush's political career," said Rick Davis, who managed the 2000 presidential bid by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain which lost to Bush.
In the latest embarrassment to hit the White House, the administration on Wednesday distanced itself from its own buoyant employment forecast that had predicted 2.6 million new jobs this year.
That followed red faces over a statement by Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, who described the process by which hundreds of thousands of US jobs are migrating overseas as both natural and good.
With many Americans extremely anxious over their job security, that statement seemed particularly callous and politically ill-judged. "For whatever reason, the White House has hit a rough patch and can't seem to get its political machinery in motion," said Keith Appell, a Republican political consultant.
"They seemed to be caught by surprise by the force of the negative rhetoric that emerged from the Democratic presidential campaign and now they need to start scrambling to get their own message out," he said.
Republicans say the US media have focused on the contest among Democrats to find an opponent for Bush in the November election and have been dominated by the candidates' fierce criticism of Bush over Iraq, the economy and other issues.
A CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll issued on Thursday showed the two top Democratic contenders with big leads over Bush. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the front-runner, led Bush 55 to 43 percent among likely voters and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was ahead 54 percent to 44 percent.
Appell and other strategists say early year jitters may mean little for the election outcome. Many believe Bush, with a big advantage in campaign funds - he has raised almost $150 million - still has the upper hand going into the battle. Still, for a White House renowned for its political skills, the past six weeks have been sobering. The list of misfires is lengthy.
STRING OF PROBLEMS: Bush's State of the Union Address was not well received and neither was his budget. Major policy initiatives on sending humans to Mars and reforming immigration law had a mixed reception at best. An interview with NBC's Tim Russert, a rare such appearance for Bush, failed to quieten the criticism.
The White House allowed a controversy over Bush's service in the National Guard to grab headlines for two weeks. And the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Bush's main justification for last year's war, promises to be a continuing embarrassment.
"It seems to me that Bush's people were so busy raising their incredible war chest that they didn't focus on reaching back to their political base and to the people," said K.B. Forbes, a former spokesman for Republican presidential candidates Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan.
Bay Buchanan, who ran her brother Pat Buchanan's maverick 1996 and 2000 presidential bids, said: "They do not have their campaign legs yet. There has been a bit of fumbling. It's not critical but it cannot go on or it will become critical. Bush is not in game form and he needs to get into form quickly."
Some commentators believe the White House became complacent late last year when they assumed Bush would be facing former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, whom they regarded as an ultra-liberal out of step with the country, in the election. -Reuters
