United States | The state-of-the-union message

Bush loses the upper hand

Fortunately, the state of the union is better than the state of the president

Jan 25th 2007|washington, dc

FOR his past five state-of-the-union addresses, George Bush has been framed by two overweight white men, sitting behind him on the podium. This year Dick Cheney was still there, trying to look cheerful. But Dennis Hastert was replaced by a very different figure—a pencil-thin woman from America's most liberal city. Nancy Pelosi's position in the Speaker's chair was a vivid reminder of how much politics has changed since the mid-term elections—and how rapidly Mr Bush's power is slipping away from him.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Bush loses the upper hand”