WASHINGTON — An early-morning telephone chat with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. A White House lunch with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Dinner with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. A group meeting with five African presidents. Another with six Latin American leaders.
With key elements of his domestic agenda stalled and his job-approval ratings sagging, President Bush is turning to a time-honored gambit favored by many of his predecessors in the Oval Office, especially as they moved into second terms: He is devoting more time and energy to international affairs, most visibly by hosting a stream of foreign leaders.
Second-term presidents have historically been frustrated on domestic policy by members of Congress who care more about the next election than the legacy of a lame-duck chief executive -- and who believe voters are more often moved by issues close to home than by foreign policy.
So it's no surprise that second-term presidents tend to focus on foreign policy, said Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Invariably, you have more latitude in foreign policy and Congress is less of a factor."
Lawrence R. Jacobs, a presidential historian at the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, said that in Bush's case, "What he's finding is that his domestic agenda has become a headache -- it's what's keeping him up at night.''
Although a shift away from domestic issues is common in the second term, presidential historians, foreign policy experts and political analysts are struck by how soon the 43rd president has begun to showcase foreign affairs.
"Foreign affairs becomes a refuge for every second-term president as his powers weaken at home," said Harvard University scholar David Gergen, who has advised presidents of both parties.
"What's been a surprise is that typically the window of opportunity is about 18 months, when they can expect to get something done before attention turns to the midterm elections. The window seems to be shutting on Bush much earlier."
For Bush, the shift to foreign affairs goes beyond diverting attention from congressional resistance to such domestic proposals as partially privatizing Social Security. The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the stalemate over North Korea's nuclear program and last week's election of a hard-liner in Iran all are demanding more and more of the president's time and attention.
