Problems keep mounting for President Bush

With President Bush's State of the Union Address coming up, there's been a lot of stories in the news that give the Democrats ammunition in going after the President.

The big oil companies are yet again reporting record profits. With Bush and Cheney's close relationship with the oil companies you would think this would really have a negative impact on the President's approval ratings. Remember that Dick Cheney had those secret meetings with all those oil company executives and has fought to keep what was said at those meetings a secret. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Chevron Corp. reported the highest profits in its 126-year history Friday, prompting outrage and charges of gouging that are likely to echo through next week as other oil giants report their earnings.

Higher oil prices coupled with increased production from its acquisition of Unocal fueled Chevron's fourth-quarter results and propelled it to its second straight record-setting year.

The San Ramon-based oil giant reported a net income of $4.14 billion in the last three months of 2005 and a profit of $14.1 billion for the year. The total likely would have been higher had the company not reported an estimated $1.4 billion in damage from the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

There's the recent article in the Washington Post reporting that many of Bush's promises to clean up New Orleans have not been met. One would think that after all the negative publicity Bush got from his response to hurricane Katrina that he would make sure things that needed to get done would get done. From the Washington Post:

While the administration can claim some clear progress, Bush's ringing call from New Orleans's Jackson Square on Sept. 15 to "do what it takes" to make the city rise from the waters has not been matched by action, critics at multiple levels of government say, resulting in a record that is largely incomplete as Bush heads into next week's State of the Union address.

Finally, there's an AP article which says that Bush is going to cut the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades. From AP:

President Bush will use his new budget to propose cutting the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades and stripping up to $4 billion from two fighter aircraft programs.

The proposals, likely to face opposition on Capitol Hill, come as the Defense Department struggles to trim personnel costs and other expenses to pay for the war in Iraq and a host of other pricey aircraft and high-tech programs. Bush will send his 2007 budget to Congress on Feb. 6.

The proposed Army Reserve cut is part of a broader plan to achieve a new balance of troop strength and combat power among the active Army, the National Guard and reserves to fight the global war on terrorism and to defend the homeland.

The Army sent a letter to members of Congress on Thursday outlining the plan. A copy was provided to The Associated Press.

If the Democrats can't take any of these issues and hit Bush over the head with them then they don't deserve to be re-elected. President Bush's approval ratings should be in the negative numbers right now. How they can still hover around 40% shows what a terrible job the Democrats have done. Bush's presidency is a failed presidency yet Democrats are acting like they're scared of going after him. They need to throw caution to the wind and go for the jugular. I think they all need to take some political lessons from former President Clinton. He seems to be the only Democrat who knows how to win elections.