It dropped the strategic overhaul of our counterintelligence enterprise initiated by President Bill Clinton and advanced by President George W. Bush, leaving it to die quietly piece by piece.

WSJ: Michelle Van Cleave: Russian Spies Haven't Gone Away

If Congress doesn't vote on them before Bush leaves office, they won't necessarily die, but they could get altered.

FORBES: Bush's Risky Trade Bet

Fleischer, a die-hard Yankee supporter who donned a team cap to announce Bush would go to the game, dodged the delicate issue of which team the president would support.

CNN: Bush to attend World Series in New York

In both cases, Presidents Clinton and Bush let the bravado and bluster from the North Koreans die down, and within weeks coaxed them back to negotiations that suspended the programs for years.

CNN: Commentary: North Korean launch not a cause for panic

Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, ordered a halt to executions after a convicted killer took 34 minutes to die and a judge in California ruled that the state's method of administering the injections was cruel and therefore unconstitutional.

ECONOMIST: Politics this week | The