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Mr Bush feeds the fires

He has not come well out of this fiasco

Special report: the US elections

As Republican efforts to fix the Florida result continue, the leadership and judgment of America's pretender-president, George W Bush, look less impressive by the day. His aides now say that Dubya was so confident of victory on November 7 that he eased off too soon and coasted to the tape. That is contrasted unfavourably with Al Gore's energetic, all-out dash to the finishing line. Genuinely shocked by the non-result, Mr Bush began his post-election campaign by adopting a studied, nonchalant air. His down-home photo-ops, featuring muddy jeans, cute pet dogs and a languid manner, were intended to convey sang-froid - or Texan cool. But they may have had the opposite effect, suggesting that Mr Bush was not so much above the fray as totally out of his depth. Out of touch, too, as if in surreal parody of Daddy Bush in 1988, the make-believe leader of the free world "appointed" a make-believe secretary of state and a very insecure security adviser.

That impression was reinforced by the sudden emergence from the shadows, as if by murky magic, of James Baker, Bush Snr's old buddy and Mr Fixit. As the Florida follies have unfolded, it has become ever clearer that Mr Baker, and other old hands like vice-president-in-his-dreams Dick Cheney, are calling Republican shots in the Sunshine state. A stronger leader than George W might have vetoed Mr Baker's legal efforts, aided and abetted by ardent Bush-ette Katherine Harris, Florida's secretary of state, to thwart local recounts. A bigger man might have upheld the bigger democratic principle of fairness over his own claims and, for example, supported a state-wide manual recount. That would have boosted his public standing and enhanced his chances of winning (by including Republican-inclined counties). None of this - his complacency, the old gang's ascendancy, bad tactics and a lack of scruple - bodes well.

In an extraordinary week, Mr Gore's conduct has not been above reproach, either. Polls show most Americans back his insistence on a reliable tally in Florida. But as patience begins to run out, it may well be growing public exasperation, as much as recounts and courts, that finally brings this contest to closure.