President Bush arrived in Washington and forged ahead with an ambitious agenda-{{U}} (1) {{/U}}tax cuts, vast changes in federal social programs, expansions of executive power and{{U}} (2) {{/U}}broad remaking of energy and education policies.
Claiming a mandate by simply declaring{{U}} (3) {{/U}}existence, his early successes dazzled his critics. With guru Karl Rove directing the{{U}} (4) {{/U}}, Bush won a stunning series of political victories.
He muscled his agenda through{{U}} (5) {{/U}}friendly Congress, and gained seats for his party in the 2002 midterm elections.{{U}} (6) {{/U}}biggest triumph came in 2004, when he won a second term despite a{{U}} (7) {{/U}}unpopular war.
The "permanent" Republican majority he and Rove envisioned even seemed attainable{{U}} (8) {{/U}}Bush plunged himself into his most ambitious legislative effort yet: a partial privatization {{U}}(9) {{/U}}Social Security.
But the president who boasted about "political capital" in the heady{{U}} (10) {{/U}}after his re-election now faces the worst of political fates as he enters{{U}} (11) {{/U}}final year in office: borderline irrelevance.
The president's second term has{{U}} (12) {{/U}}defined by legislative paralysis, marked by record-low approval ratings, presidential candidates who are{{U}} (13) {{/U}}from his shadow, and a lingering war that's sapping his remaining reservoirs of{{U}} (14) {{/U}}.
As he enters his final year in office with the war continuing, Republican{{U}} (15) {{/U}}for president bolting from his shadow, and his party back in the minority{{U}} (16) {{/U}}Congress, he is politically weakened, an early entry into lame-duck status.
And the{{U}} (17) {{/U}}Washington atmosphere he hoped to cure is just as nasty as it was{{U}} (18) {{/U}}he came to office seven years ago.
"lie's left our political institutions much{{U}} (19) {{/U}}troubled than they were before," said Thomas E. Mann, a senior fellow at{{U}} (20) {{/U}}Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. "He didn't create the ideological polarization, but he magnified it. "