Right after the election last year, George W. Bush said, “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style.” I think he bought himself some Twizzlers.

Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin:

When the president of the United States says jump, people jump.

But with President Bush, it seems like more and more often they’re jumping in the opposite direction.

Polls show that all of Bush’s talk about Social Security has caught the public’s attention — except that the more they hear about his proposals, the less they like them.

Bush’s increasing insistence that things are going well in Iraq has been accompanied by a dramatic loss of support for the war.

And the latest backfire would appear to be in Iran, in response to Bush’s denunciation last week of Iranian elections as a sham.

Brian Murphy writes for the Associated Press: “Iran’s spy chief used just two words to respond to White House ridicule of last week’s presidential election: ‘Thank you.’ His sarcasm was barely hidden. The backfire on Washington was more evident.

“The sharp barbs from President Bush were widely seen in Iran as damaging to pro-reform groups because the comments appeared to have boosted turnout among hard-liners in Friday’s election — with the result being that an ultraconservative now is in a two-way showdown for the presidency.”

The consensus view in the press today is clear: Bush is losing his touch.

America slaps its forehead and says, “We could have had a good president!” Yes, well, you should have thought of that on Election Day!