Behold, the sleeping giant has awoken. President Bush arose from his month long fun-in-the-Texas-sun vacation to speak on the state of the U.S. economy at an American Legion convention last Wednesday. Ever the realist, Dubya couldn't hide his pessimism in front of the 5,000 Legionnaires gathering in San Antonio.

"The recovery is very slow in coming."

The President went on to express his concern for working families, saying he is "deeply worried" about the lackluster performance of the economy.

While continuing to talk down the economy is not a good idea for the president, the numbers substantiate his worries.

The Gross Domestic Product grew only 0.2 percent in the second quarter, the smallest growth since the first quarter in 1993. So much for the tax cut strengthening the economy.

The disappointing performance of the tax cut is only the tip of the ice berg in a fledgling presidency that can only be characterized as failing. Only seven months into his presidency, President Bush has made his presence felt in ways he probably wishes he hadn't. The progress that the Clinton-Gore administration made in a variety of different issues has been brought to an abrupt halt by an administration that seems intent on destroying the prosperity we enjoyed for the last eight years.

Earlier last week Congress announced that President Bush will be forced to use $9 billion the Social Security surplus to pay for his excessive and fiscally irresponsible tax cut. This finding disproves President Bush's campaign promise that his tax cut was within the budget and would not touch the Social Security and Medicare reserve.

In February, the White House predicted a $281 billion surplus for this fiscal year. With the new congressional budget estimate, save the money reserved for Social Security that the Bush Administration won't be getting their hands on, the biggest surplus in U.S. history has dwindled to nothing.

This miscalculation by the Bush team makes it unlikely that he will be able to deliver on other campaign promises, such as a military pay raise, without dipping further into the Social Security surplus. The "education President" also figures to slight our schools of funding, thanks to his tax cut.

This egregious error on the part of the Bush administration is just another indication that George W. Bush is not providing the leadership this country enjoyed for eight years under Bill Clinton.

How about another telling statistic? You have heard the number before: 20 million new jobs created in eight years under the leadership of the Clinton/Gore administration.

The Bush Administration doesn't appear likely to match that kind of prosperity. More than 700,000 people who had jobs when Bill Clinton left office no longer have them now. Yes indeed, the economic revitalization predicted by the Bushies when the budget passed the house and the senate has yet to take shape.

The tax cut that the president said would boost the slumping economy when he entered office has instead exacerbated the economic dive to unheard of depths. The leadership we enjoyed for eight years under Bill Clinton and Al Gore is gone.

Now President Bush has returned from his month-long vacation. The Congress, too, will return after its summer recess. Will the President and the Congressional republicans continue to support his budget that continues to burn a hole in programs previously protected under Clinton-Gore?

The tax cut sounded good, but the inevitable fallout of this fiscally irresponsible budget is starting to taste sour to the American general public.

Criticism of the President by Congressional and Senate Democrats is hardly unwarranted. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt in a letter to the White House were more practical than partisan in asking to meet the president to discuss the budget. "Although you continue to advocate these proposals, your administration has failed to put forward any plan to reconcile their costs with the rapidly dwindling surplus."

In the same speech I referred to earlier, the president pushed his request to increase defense spending by $18.5 billion in the next fiscal year. He has previously asked the Congress for spending increases in his energy and faith-based program proposals. President Bush apparently still has not heeded the harsh reality that such spending is no longer within the federal budget.