Pro-Democracy Campaign Falters

President Bush has announced his intention to end "tyranny in our world," but promoting democracy is proving as unpopular among Republicans as Democrats. His plans have met internal opposition, even from Dick Cheney, but a more formidable roadblock is the plan's close association with the unpopular chief executive, the Washington Post reports.

Apparent progress in Ukraine, Iraq, Lebanon, and Kyrgyzstan left Bush optimistic in 2005. Since then, US foreign policy has endured criticism for being naive, inconsistent, and ineffectual, with aid allotments that don't track Bush's stated goals."There is a gap between what he says and what the State Department does," one critic says of the president. (More democracy stories.)