A Change of Subject

By Dan Froomkin

Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, May 19, 2006; 1:00 PM

This was the week President Bush changed the subject.

With a rare primetime speech from the Oval Office and ensuing PR campaign, Bush pulled the press and the public away from their growing obsession with his sinking approval ratings, the carnage in Iraq, his domestic snooping, and other stories over which he had little control.

The new subject, of course, is immigration. It's not a sure-fire winner for Bush, sparking as it does virulent opposition from within his own party, and putting him in the unusual position of trying to build a coalition around a "rational middle ground," which is not his strong suit.