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BUSH'S COMPANY. Sometimes I forget how unpopular Bush really is:
President Bush faces the nation this week more unpopular than any president on the eve of a State of the Union address since Richard Nixon in 1974.Nixon was beleaguered by the Watergate scandal; for Bush, three decades later, it's the war in Iraq. With his unpopular troop surge on the table, his job rating matches the worst of his presidency: Thirty-three percent of Americans approve of his work in office while 65 percent disapprove, 2-1 negative, matching his career low last May.Only two recent presidents have dipped lower than Bush: Carter and Nixon. That's some company. One a reviled synonym for corruption, the other a pitied symbol of American weakness. Now, some like to compare Bush to Truman, but Truman rehabilitated himself with a take-no-prisoners progressivism that sought war with moneyed interests and health care for all. Tomorrow night, if early reports are to be believed, Bush will propose a change in the marginal tax deductibility of health insurance. Some Truman. --Ezra Klein
