Reading various commentaries on President Bush, there seem to be two mutually exclusive opinions floating around:
Which is it? It can’t be both, can it?

Reading various commentaries on President Bush, there seem to be two mutually exclusive opinions floating around:
Which is it? It can’t be both, can it?
He’s in danger of losing his base because he does not fight hard enough for conservative principles and is willing to compromise on damned near anything.
He’s energizing his opponents and driving away moderates in droves because he is a right wing ideologue who refuses to make even the slightest concession to achieve consensus.
It’s certainly possible that he could end up with the worst of both worlds, seen by his base as overly compromising but at the same time seen by moderates and opponents as too inflexible. Perception is everything, and it’s plausible that the same actions would be seen in an entirely different way by these factions. For a simple example, look at the situation the Palestinian P.M. finds himself in, where he’s unable to satisfy either the hardliners on his own side or the Israelis.