Within the US, the 43rd president has lost so much momentum that his domestic agenda is virtually on hold. This is despite the fact that relations with much of the world are as strained as ever, so active has the Bush administration been with a 'Dirty Harry' foreign policy of opportunistic unilateralism.

In Washington Bush is being increasingly blocked by a newly powerful 'mod squad' of centrist Republicans. On Friday a majority of the members of the House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republicans, urged Dubya to back public funding for research on stem cells. Such research is favored by 60% of Americans. The same day Bush was dealt a legislative setback that further underscored his weakness in domestic policy.

Nineteen moderate Republicans voted with Democrats to tighten curbs on arsenic in water to the level proposed by his predecessor and nemesis, Bill Clinton. Differences within the Republican party are likely to widen as the mid-term 2002 elections near and members of Bush's own party focus on their own re-election.

One of the most conservative pressures on Bush, who is as much pro-business as he is ideologically far-right, is the need to appease his party base. Disproportionately opposed to the research, they are the voters most likely to turn out for next year's congressional elections. The Washington stalemate is clearly perplexing for the former Texas governor, a novice in national as well as international politics.

On Friday, on the eve of leaving for his ranch for the August legislative recess, Bush pointedly told reporters that, once there, he would enjoy walking and communing with cows. 'Occasionally they talk to me, being the good listener that I am,' he said.

Texas is the heartland, he continued, where the values important to ordinary Americans are most evident -- home, hearth and faith. Accurate or not, Bush's popularity within America is tepid. In the most recent major poll his approval rating had dropped to 57%, five points lower than after his first 100 days in office. In next year's mid-term elections the Democrats need only pick up six seats in order to control the House and, quite possibly, make the second half of Bush's four-year term a nightmare.

Because of the White House's imperious style and naiveté, the Republicans lost control of the Senate in May when a moderate bolted from the party. So far the most obvious domestic triumph for Bush, say analysts, is his income tax cut. The proposal was scaled back considerably during debate in Congress, but it will probably go down in history as one of the defining characteristics of the 43rd presidency. Checks are being mailed to taxpayers starting this month, a fact widely reported by the America's populist media and chat shows. For weeks the burning question has been: how will you spend your $300 rebate? Almost forgotten, apparently, is that those who pay less tax receive nothing, and that the legislation reduces the tax rate for the richest.

Complicating the picture further is a soft economy, the same issue that lost Bush's father the presidency nine years ago. Economic growth in the second quarter fell to its lowest level since 1993, according to new government figures.

'The economy's puttering along, and it shouldn't be,' said a chagrined Bush. And even his top economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsay, said the slump had come sooner than expected, and that if it continues into 2002 the White House would no longer be able to blame Clinton. Last week alone, Silicon Valley announced 13,000 layoffs. The Bush administration is counting on consumer spending, boosted by the tax cut , to stabilize the economy.

But it is in foreign affairs, where a US president can wield more power, that Bush has become most notorious.

Six months into his term, Bush is often described as isolationist. His aides have however said his stance is 'ˆ la carte multinationalism'-- joining allies when it suits US interests. The difference is not clear. Yesterday the Los Angeles Times quoted sources as saying that the Pentagon is considering a futuristic space bomber.

It would supposedly take off like a long-range missile and drop 'precision bombs' from a height of 60 miles or more and could knock out targets on the other side of the world in half an hour.

The story, true or not, is sure to alarm those who already oppose Bush's missile defense system, such as Russia, China and various European countries. The disclosure comes at a sensitive time. Colin Powell, the secretary of state, arrived in Beijing yesterday. He is the highest US official to visit China since Bush took office.

Relations have been especially strained between the two countries. Increasing the furor over Bush's foreign policy was this past week's announcement that the US will boycott a United Nations summit in South Africa next month on racism if the subject of Zionism or of reparations for slavery is on the agenda.

The Bush administration said, also this last week, that it would not sign an accord to enforce a UN treaty banning germ warfare, because it might compromise America's government research and industrial secrets.

Previously the Bush administration had thumbed its nose at the Kyoto global warming treaty. More recently America opposed a treaty by the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons as likely to undermine the second amendment. That is the part of the US constitution used by pro-gun lobbyists to back the argument that every American has the right to bear arms.

Bush's stance on Kyoto is the diplomatic equivalent of Dirty Harry's 'Go ahead ... make my day' warning, crowed conservative columnist Debra Saunders in her column on Thursday. Indeed, at last weekend's Genoa summit, Bush told other leaders that they should wait until his administration came up with an alternative to Kyoto -- but he gave no indication of timing. Similarly, US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice dismissed debate over globalization.

'Our responsibility is to help countries prepare for the new world they are entering, not to talk endlessly,' she said in Genoa. 'Rather than say, 'On the one hand, on the other hand,' Mr Bush has a way to say to Senegal and El Salvador, 'This will help you.''

©2001 smg sunday newspapers ltd

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