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Beleaguered and bitter, Bush turns 'lion in winter'

     New York: President George W Bush is facing the darkest days of his life and remains frustrated, angry and sometimes even bitter, according to his associates. Dubya is already facing heat over the rising numbers of bodybags flowing in from Iraq. Only last week 23 American personnel were killed in Iraq, and the death of the 2000th American GI will be a milestone, not very pleasant for the Bush administration. This apart, there is also the case involving Bush's top political guru, Karl Rove, and Vice President Cheney's right-hand man, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, who are at the centre of a two-year criminal probe into the leak of a CIA agent's identity. Many Bush staffers believe indictments are likely and the special prosecutor's decision could as well shake the foundations of the Bush government. "He's like the lion in winter. He's frustrated. He remains quite confident in the decisions he has made. But this is a guy who wanted to do big things in a second term.

     Given his nature, there's no way he'd be happy about the way things have gone," the New York Daily News quoted a Bush associate as saying. Staffers said that Bush usually reserved his temper for senior aides, who were used to his ranting, but lately, he has been very losing his patience over junior staffers as well, adding that the rising woes has only aggravated his outbursts against his staffers. White House officials are also very perturbed over Bush's behaviour. "This is not some manager at McDonald's chewing out the help. This is the President of the United States, and it's not a pleasant sight," said a source with close ties to the White House. White House insiders believe that real reason for Dubya's outbursts and distress is the spectre of losing Rove, his only truly irreplaceable assistant.

    Other political contingencies like the growing opposition to the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina and Harriet Miers' bungled Supreme Court nomination, had also taken their toll on him, the paper said. Bush advisers and friends said that Dubya is a mass of contradictions: cheerful and serene, peevish and melancholy, occasionally lapsing into what he once himself derided as the "blame game." They have also described him as someone who is beset but unbowed, and convinced that history would vindicate the major decisions taken during his presidency even if they damage him and his party in the 2006 and 2008 elections. "The President is just unhappy in general and casting blame all about. Andy [Card, the chief of staff] gets his share. Karl gets his share. Even Cheney gets his share. And the press gets a big share," added a White House insider. Bush, insiders said was also dismayed that "the only person escaping blame was the President himself," but like the proverbial soldier he is determined to carry on, and is already preparing for two major overseas trips in November and helping shape next year's legislative agenda. "I've got a job to do. The American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to," he added.