[shhrubbery!]

I appreciate your analysis. But I have to think that if this is Realpolitik, it's misguided.

Using Laura to gain plaudits from the Left or the MSM is not going to do a thing to lessen their hostility toward GWB.

If anything, that performance will only encourage them to see GWB as stupid, boring, weak, inadequate, and capable of being pushed around --just the way they want to see him.

And that won't do a thing to enhance GWB's chances of seeing any of his second term priorities accomplished --getting Social Security reform passed, getting tort reform, getting a sound energy policy enacted, or getting John Bolton and conservative judges confirmed.

[Wallace T.]

Compromising and finding a middle ground are characteristics of politics. Most of Bush's key advisers have long standing membership in the Beltway establishment, in the cases of Rumsfeld and Cheney, dating back to the Ford Administration. Bush's father was inclined to this course. Unfortunately, the deals that led to the 1990 tax hikes helped engender the recession that caused his re-election attempt to fail.

However, in fairness it must be admitted that the GOP leadership in Congress has been ineffectual. The President's ratings are declining, and he is a lame duck. The Administration may not be made up of desperate housewives, but there may be a high degree of concern that President Bush's second term will be as weak as Reagan's second term. So Laura Bush's bawdy humor may be a political equivalent of a strategy change. Hopefully, it is not a desperation "Hail Mary" play.