John Kenneth White writes at
Polling Report regarding George W Bush's loss of political capital.
If this were a parliamentary system, there would be a vote of no confidence and a new election held.
More below...
White's discussion looks at Bush's collapse in public opinion polling.
...After defeating John Kerry, there was every indication that the President could maintain the overwhelming Republican support that kept him at 50% in the polls. In fact, the near-unanimous backing from the GOP rank-and-file and members of Congress gave Bush a unique second term opportunity. After claiming victory, Bush told reporters he had acquired 'political capital, and now I intend to spend it . . . [on] Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the war on terror.' This accumulation of capital was evident in a Gallup poll taken two weeks after his second inauguration: 57% approved of Bush's performance, 40% disapproved. As of mid-September, those figures were reversed: 40% approved of Bush's job performance, while 58% disapproved, according to Gallup. Just nine months into his second term, Bush's political capital is all but spent. If he were a bank, he'd have to declare bankruptcy.
As we know, public opinion on the issues is one thing; political power is another. Note that the Republican Party seems to be quite effective at 'holding the ranks' on most legislation they have proposed. So if Bush has squandered political capital, it hasn't had much of an impact beyond his personal polling figures.
A vote of no confidence means loss of confidence in the political party in power, not just Bush's personal polling numbers, and I'm not sure we have seen much of that. In fact, the Republicans have been careful not to push through high-visablity legislation like the Social Security reform that would certainly cause a much broader loss in political capital.
Bush has been extraordinarily successful in pushing through legislation that favores the wealthy & the corporations. Despite this loss of popularity, the Repbulican machine is still getting pretty much what it wants.