Has Anybody Seen My Mandate?

George W. Bush was a busy boy yesterday.

He oversaw the swearing in of his new Undersecretary and Ambassador for Public Diplomacy, Karen Hughes. (I think her job is meant to use public relations skillz to improve the American image in the Arab Street. Good luck.) Then, he awarded medals of valor to emergency workers who perished on September Eleventh, or as he is fond of calling it, The September The Eleventh. I find it ironic that nearly four years to the day that President Bush shined as bright as he could as a leader, he's a leadership black hole.

One moment he had. One moment of brilliance that defined him and his presidency and made us all feel better. "I can hear you. The rest of the world can hear you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." One brilliant ad-lib and anyone with any doubt about the president's legitimacy as an elected leader and as a leader in general became flurries.

And today, he stands with a 39 percent approval rating. Perhaps it will finally occur to him that he no longer has a mandate.