Delivered to the White House on last Friday, morning The moment a small manila envelope was containing the pithy four-sentence resignation of Sandra Day O’Connor from the US Supreme Court changed the summer of US American politics. instantaneously. White House aides hastily threw together a Rose Garden press conference for As President George W. Bush flies to Europe today to meet fellow leaders of the Group of Eight top industrial nations, say aides, his reading will be about the court. It is the political agenda at home that increasingly preoccupies him. As the network presenters climbed up their mini stepladders, dabbing sweat from their faces, speculation about a successor filled the air-waves.

The result is that Key parts of his legislative agenda programme are on hold. An energy bill aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil has been stalled for four years.has not yet passed; Mr Bush's assertive advocacy of John Bolton as the next US ambassador to the UN has been blocked by Senate democrats. A splinter group of senators from his Republican party thwarted his efforts to win a simple majority vote for his appellate court nominees. More than 50 Republican members of the House of Representatives defied his veto threat and allowedover the extension of embryonic stem cell research using human embryos. Most notably, the president has struggled to sell his two centerpiece policies, Iraq (see below) and proposals to reform the federal pensions system known as Social Security, which Mr Bush has described as his “number one priority”.