UPC Challenge: Does Bush Have Any Effect Anymore?

This week's challenge from the Unpaid Punditry Corps was:

What do you think is and will be the political impact of President Bush’s primetime Speech to the Nation on Tuesday, June 28th?

Well, I've already given my opinion on the speech itself, and some reaction from disgruntled veterans who feel neither Bush nor his party support the troops adequately, so I wondered how the world outside the US thought.

Here in the US, it's already been overshadowed for most by the impending Supreme Court battle and by the revelation that Karl Rove may have been the Plame case leaker.

Abroad,the general consensus seems to be that Bush shot himself in the foot by having no dramatic new ideas and by trotting out old rhetoric.

The German press see withdrawal from Iraq as the wrong move, but also feel that Bush is out of ideas for improving the situation there and that the American people are "increasingly sceptical".

The Arab press,like this article from Tunisia, seems to agree that "the American people will exact their price on a Republican administration that has split the United States in two." Maybe it will, come the 2006 and 2008 elections.

The Iraqi news outlet 'Azzaman' was even more scathing, saying

Iraqis only hear of plans and operations, but they never hear the details. This they know nothing about. As far as the government and the United States are concerned, the details are part of national security. But the organizers and initiators of these plans overlook a fundamental fact, a fact that is the cause of the drastic failure of their policies.

The way to win the war against insurgents and end corruption begins with Iraqi hearts and minds.

I wonder if the word "duh" means anything to the White House and Pentagon?

Even Israel is beginning to snarl about US involvement in the region.

Much of the rest of the world has already turned their attention to the G8 Summit - where it looks like Bush's tired old rhetoric will get him sidelined again. He and his administration are now the obstacle to overcome, not the leaders in getting things done.

So...beyond his own hard-core supporters, who would support him if he said all puppies should be strangled, I have to say the effect has been negative.