The Week

■ The latest Clinton pardon scandal has provoked furious denials of any association with a notorious crime family: Thomas Gambino says he would never have anything to do with the Clintons.

■ Recent polls showing an average approval rating of 54 pen cent for President Bush prompted a premature media consen- sus that he faces a dire popularity problem. One poll showing 50 percent of the public approving of Bush was dramatically described as “the lowest approval rating for a president in five years,” which neatly avoided comparisons to President Clinton’s first six months in office (when he was supported by only 39 percent). That many voters disapprove of Bush is not surprising: The enduring partisan divide in the electorate means that a large number of voters would not credit him if he were to cure the common cold. But there is also some good news for Bush in the polls. He has improved his numbers among blacks (up to 36 percent) and Hispanics (59 percent). What should concern the White House is that the public has responded in a lukewarm fashion after the achievement of a large part of Bush’s agenda: a popular tax cut and a bipartisan education bill. For the rest of the year, Bush is set to play defense: on a patients’ bill of rights, on campaign-finance reform, on the minimum wage, on spending bills. Bush’s problem isn’t so much that his polls are drifting downward; it’s that Washington is drifting away from his agenda.

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■ The latest Clinton pardon scandal has provoked furious denials of any association with a notorious crime family: Thomas Gambino says he would never have anything to do with the Clintons.

■ Recent polls showing an average approval rating of 54 pen cent for President Bush prompted a premature media consen- sus that he faces a dire popularity problem. One poll showing 50 percent of the public approving of Bush was dramatically described as “the lowest approval rating for a president in five years,” which neatly avoided comparisons to President Clinton’s first six months in office (when he was supported by only 39 percent). That many voters disapprove of Bush is not surprising: The enduring partisan divide in the electorate means that a large number of voters would not credit him if he were to cure the common cold. But there is also some good news for Bush in the polls. He has improved his numbers among blacks (up to 36 percent) and Hispanics (59 percent). What should concern the White House is that the public has responded in a lukewarm fashion after the achievement of a large part of Bush’s agenda: a popular tax cut and a bipartisan education bill. For the rest of the year, Bush is set to play defense: on a patients’ bill of rights, on campaign-finance reform, on the minimum wage, on spending bills. Bush’s problem isn’t so much that his polls are drifting downward; it’s that Washington is drifting away from his agenda.