Pres. Bush and the case of the missing "political capital"

When Pres. Bush was re-elected in 2004, he famously asserted that (after waiting four long years for legitimacy from the voters themselves...) he would spend "political capital" that he had just earned to push his agenda through Congress. Republicans leapt for joy and patted one another's ass in a heterosexual sort of way while Democrats sulked and wondered how they got themselves bullied again into the deep part of the mudbank. All seemed to go the President's way...

Today, there is no sign that he has any "political capital" with which to use. Or if he has, he has mysteriously chosen not to use any. What is he waiting for, Tom Cruise to teach him the history of the Presidency? Here's the scorecard so far from Capitol Hill:

1. Failed attempt to confirm John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
2. Democrats standing firm as a minority and using the filibuster to stall judicial nominations in the Senate.
3. Falling public support for the war in Iraq.
4. Inability to persuade Americans to buy into his Social Security plan for "private accounts."
5. Right-wing conservatives threatening to abandon him should he nominate his Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez, to be the next Supreme Court Justice because he is not pro-life enough.

Either he has the chips or he doesn't. And it doesn't collect interest while sitting in any bank that I know of.