Democrats didn't offer compromise when Bush was reelected -- and it paid off

Bush’s tax reform agenda – planning to make his 2001 tax credits permanent and repeal the estate tax – fell through the floor.

Even Bush’s nominee for the ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, failed to get a vote on the Senate floor, forcing Bush to make it a recess appointment.

Bush’s immigration effort fell short in the spring of 2006. Republicans resisted on one side, and on the other, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Democrats refused to grant him any capital on issue as the solidified their inroads with Hispanic voters.

Bush’s only major legislative success was successfully continuing the war in Iraq and reauthorizing the Patriot Act until Democrats took power in the 2006 elections. From there on, Bush was nearly impotent.