US got more than it bargained for with the conservative Texan

As his first 100 days in office sped by, George W. Bush has tried everything he could to end the practice of evaluating a presidency in that period. "Wait 180 days," White House officials told the media.

This week the Bush administration conceded that its campaign to escape intense public scrutiny of its policies has failed. President Bush agreed to a number of interviews, political spin-doctors went into high gear and assessments of The First 100 Days are saturating the news.

With much of the US media, the administration has a co-operative partner in a somewhat peculiar but apparently patriotic dance. The key notion - to reinforce a single idea and a single image - George W. Bush is in fact the President of the US.

"He is in control," New York Times reporter Richard Berke assured the country on the Charlie Rose television interview programme. "He is the President of the United States. What he says, matters," noted Ted Koppell of ABC News.

Almost immediately following these assurances comes the soothing assertion that George Bush has amassed some of the most experienced hands in decades in foreign policy. Not since President Harry Truman have we seen such professionals. There may be internal strife, they may disagree with each other, and a clear policies may be elusive. Secretary of State Colin Powell seems to be the sole moderate in most matters, and generally thinks it a good idea for the US to at least notify its allies if it is about to start bombing somewhere.

The rest of the team - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, and Vice-President Dick Cheney - are generally hardliners, unilateralists and hawks - but at least they are experienced. The prayer in the intoning of this word "experience" seems to be that they at least have an understanding of global politics and, perhaps more importantly, military history.

It seems a curious thing that the American people - and the world - should need to be reminded about who is President and reassured that he is in charge. It seems odd that every time Mr Cheney has another heart attack - mostly these trips to hospital are now called "episodes" - one hears a palpable "uh oh" rumble across the land.

The fact is that behind the facade of calm America is a very nervous place at the moment, uncertain of who its leaders are or what their policies may be.

One matter is inarguable; America got an administration far more conservative than it bargained for. Instead of a middle of the road bureaucrat, it got a President who behaves like an ideologue. Mr Bush has done everything possible to alienate liberals, moderates, allies and foes.

"I'm really surprised at how conservative he's been," said June Speakman, a political scientist professor at Roger Williams University. "Because it's the centre he has to hold for the next election."

The conservatism, which strictly speaking is actually rather radical, is costing. A Reuters/Zogby poll shows that Mr Bush's ratings among independent voters has dropped from 73 per cent favourable in February to 53 per cent in March. A Gallup Poll shows his favourable rating among conservatives at 90 per cent.

It is too soon to name a defining moment for this new presidency, but a few stand out. With the nomination of archconservative John Ashcroft to head the Justice Department, Mr Bush sent a signal that he was serious about his views. An opponent of civil rights, affirmative action and abortion, Mr Ashcroft has been a hero to the right wing. Talk about moderation and compromise and bipartisanship were out the window.

But the assault on environmental matters was so strenuous that even Mr Bush's supporters were surprised. On March 13th he reversed a campaign pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. On March 20th he blocked a Clinton administration order to reduce arsenic levels in drinking water. The next day he opposed a Clinton administration plan to restrict mining operations on federal lands. On March 29th, Mr Bush rejected the Kyoto global warming treaty.

"Before there was an outreach, before there was any dialogue, the environment appears to have been targeted for hostile action," Mr Fred Krupp, executive director for environmental defence, told the Wall Street Journal.

It is not that Mr Bush has a special hostility to the environment. It's just business really. The main contributor to increased levels of arsenic in groundwater is the mining industry. Reducing federal standards was a boon to them. Last year the industry contributed $1.7 million to federal candidates and political committees, some 82 per cent of which went to Republicans. Environmental groups contributed $1.4 million, but 92 per cent of it went to Democrats. On this topic, the Bush administration, it can be said with certainty, understands mathematics.

Liberals, already bruised on social issues - on his very first day in office Mr Bush issued an executive order cutting federal funding for overseas organisations that do abortion counselling - are bracing themselves for a slew of judicial nominations in May. Nowhere will Mr Bush leave his conservative stamp more than in these nominations.

But none of these matters are what makes America nervous. Only foreign policy and the economy have the capacity to stir real anxiety. The first 100 days have been fairly non-stop sabre rattling. Some 51 Russian diplomats were expelled after the US discovered an FBI agent had been spying for the Russians. US-Russian relations are at their lowest point since the Cold War. US planes bombed Iraq, sending a message that Bush the younger was irritated that Saddam Hussein was around nearly 10 years after the Gulf War.

BUT nowhere has the hardline policy been as visible as in what is being called a "rebalancing" of US relations with China. While Mr Bush has not called China "the enemy", he has said he does not see China as Mr Clinton did, nor will he use the important term Mr Clinton did - "a strategic partner".

Moreover, in language that drew much concern, Mr Bush said the US would do "whatever is necessary" to defend Taiwan. "If what the President said is in fact what he means or if it is indeed the new policy of the US, it has profound implications for our country," said Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Nobody is quite certain how willing the US is to engage in military confrontation. The fear, especially among the public, is that some of Mr Bush's most senior advisers, are itching to show off US military might. Bush himself does seem eager for a war, but the lost and confused look in his eyes when he discusses these matters is not comforting.

If there is any one issue, however, that may prove the undoing for the most genial president since Ronald Reagan it will be the economy. Mr Bush has had no honeymoon period here. As corporate profits plummet and layoffs mount - California-based businesses such as Disney, Cisco and Hewlett Packard, for example, have laid off more workers in the first quarter than in all of the year 2000 - Mr Bush has stood on the sidelines, pushing for a $1.6 billion tax cut that whatever its merits will have little effect anytime soon.

He has not shown leadership on the economy, and even the staid and conservative Wall Street Journal is voicing nervousness about the President's absence of involvement. Asked if Mr Bush was inspiring confidence about the economy, veteran Journal editorial writer Susan Lee simply put her hand over her mouth and laughed.

Laughter at this stage of the Bush presidency is probably an appropriate response. Enjoy it. Because the combination of weak economic leadership and uncertain foreign policy is unlikely to remain funny during the next 100 days.