WP: White House believe they have regained their political footing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113000836.html

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With the departures of key figures such as Bartlett and Karl Rove, Gillespie has emerged as a critical player in the White House effort to revive itself after more than two years of political disasters, from the war to Hurricane Katrina to the midterm Republican election defeat. With violence now falling in Iraq, Gillespie and others in the White House believe they have regained their political footing. "There's a sense that there's been some momentum shift and a little bit of a change in that regard," he said. "Probably mostly, I'd say, attributable to the success of the surge in Iraq, which is pretty indisputable. I hope it's enduring."

But he acknowledged that Bush remains at record depths in polls. The Washington Post-ABC News poll has found his approval rating stuck at 33 percent, his all-time low, for four months straight. A new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that while Americans feel better about the situation in Iraq, they have not changed their minds about wanting to pull troops out and remain deeply disillusioned with the president.

"It's going to take a while for perceptions to change," Gillespie said. "I think as people see Iraq getting better and see progress on the economic and political front in Iraq, as they see the president resisting the Democratic Congress's attempt to impose higher taxes, they'll appreciate that. It's the kind of thing that will take time. It took a long time for the president to get into low approval ratings. I think it will take a long time for him to see those approval ratings go up."