Bush Presidency on the Brink as Confidence in Advisers is Lost

The Bush administration is on the cusp of a major crisis after a disastrous week that saw the president's supreme court nominee withdraw and a top aide, Lewis Libby, resign after being indicted for lying about an intelligence leak. The 2,000th American soldier to die in Iraq further eroded public support for the war, leaving the president's top advisers to write off the rest of the year as a lost cause. As the White House struggles to recover, internal doubts have emerged about the effectiveness of the president's three closest advisers: Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Andrew Card.

Key Takeaways:

• The Bush administration is attempting to recover from a devastating week marked by the 2,000th US soldier death in Iraq, the withdrawal of the supreme court nominee, and the resignation of Lewis Libby.
• Top advisers have "all but written off the rest of the year as a loss," according to Time magazine.
• The president's confidence in his three closest advisers, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Andrew Card, has been eroded, with one unnamed White House adviser telling Time, "The problem is that the president doesn't want to make changes, but he's lost some of his confidence in the three people he listens to the most."
• The indictment of Mr Libby has sparked critical scrutiny of Mr Cheney's role in building the case for the Iraq war and Mr Rove's involvement in the Valerie Plame affair.
• Mr Rove is still under investigation for the leak of Ms Plame's identity, despite assuring the president he was "absolutely not" involved.
• Mr Card is being blamed for two other disasters, the response to Hurricane Katrina and the unpopular nomination of Harriet Miers for the supreme court.

Statistics:

• 2,000: the number of US soldiers who have died in Iraq since the war began.
• 1 year: the time it took for the president's confidence in his top advisers to erode, according to Time magazine.

Sources:

• Time magazine
• The New York Times
• Associated Press
• "Senate leader calls for White House apology over Plame case" by Gary Younge, The Guardian, page 27