You write:
I agree with your view of the recent trip, frankly I’m not sure what people want from Bush.. He’s pretty much going at it solo these days.

But as president, he’s also the political leader of the country. In that capacity he has failed to bring enough people, even from his adminstration, along to support him. You can excuse for being alone, but that admits that he failed to keep them with him.

Neocons like myself want him to keep neoconing, but other than the VP the support staff wihin his administration is gone, never mind support from the American people, the GOP in congress has diverged totally from him as well.

He was alone supporting the successful surge too. President or not, there’s only so much that can be done when you’re solo against seemingly everyone else. Add in the subversion in the CIA, difficulty with a shaky pentagon, and the Rice / Gates diplomacy sweethearts and I can’t say I question why Bush is not making much headway on anything he wants too.