WASHINGTON — As everyone knows by now, President Bush has been beaten and battered beyond recognition. Sometimes, his only friend in the world seems to be Britain's Tony Blair.
His poll numbers are so low that some Republican candidates have been avoiding him and taking shots at him. Virginia, a red state, elected a Democratic governor despite Bush's last-minute campaign visit to its capital, Richmond.
Usually, when things turn sour at home, Bush looks over the seas. But what good news awaits him there?
The bombings at American hotels in Jordan seemed an ominous warning that al-Qaida was ready to spread its battle from Iraq through a wider swath of the Middle East.
Even peaceful efforts have hit the skids in recent weeks. Bush came away empty-handed from a summit meeting of Latin American governments. He went to Argentina with a reasonable idea for hemispheric free trade, but all he got there were pictures of angry demonstrators marching in the streets against him, plus the usual hoodlums who trash and burn world meetings focused on capitalism.
Even Canada has turned against this administration. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went there for a day recently and heard nothing but complaints.
Who can Bush turn to when nobody needs him?
Hu.
Who?
Hu wrote the book of love.
The new president of China, Hu Jintao, seems to be ready to throw down as many red carpets for Bush on his 48-hour visit to China as he can find.
Already, Hu has smoothed the way by talking his neighbor, North Korea's Kim Jong Il, into rejoining the six-country talks on North Korea's atomic bomb production facility.
China's leadership has been holding Washington's coat since the beginning of this crisis, but doing little else. Now, Beijing is hosting the six-way talks and evidently trying hard to keep them from collapsing again, acting as a mediator between the Americans and the North Koreans.
While that isn't a triumph, it at least isn't a rebuff, which is what Bush has mainly been getting since Hurricane Katrina and his fitful vacation in Texas. It's always possible something could arise to add to Bush's list of failures. Mainland threats in the Taiwan Straits or China's stubbornness on balance of trade problems come to mind.
But Hu, though a mystery man, is eager to please and — having gained great influence in Asian capitals recently — is launching a charm offensive in Europe this month.
So it looks like a sure thing for Bush in more ways than flashing teeth.
While the Chinese are gaining economically and geopolitically, their influence on North Korea could be shaped into a positive factor for both the United States and Japan.
Even with the bad news from Jordan, which appeared to be the handiwork of Jordanian-born al-Qaida militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, members of the axis of evil appear to be lowering their profiles, at least for now.
First, Syrians are afraid of being hauled off to the world court for a murder next door in Lebanon.
Second, Iranians have suddenly discovered that their new leader's wild rhetoric has given international investors, not just Israel and the United States, the creeps. Some Iranian conservatives have begun to explain Mahmoud Ahmadinejad away as just a new man naively misinterpreting the sayings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini.
And third, North Korea may have decided to cash in with China's desire for world approval. Beijing has been generous with its aid recently to get North Korea back to the bargaining table.
The verdict is out, but Bush can claim that all that axis-of-evil rhetoric in his first term put these autocratic nations on the defensive. Some may choose to believe that. But American power may not be responsible for the turn that is being taken now.
China is finally living up to its responsibilities as a regional power in Asia, and that could work to advance American interests on the Korean peninsula.
Britain, France and Russia, at American behest, teamed up to force Iran to the negotiating table on its suspect nuclear reactor, along with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
And a German prosecutor from the U.N. Security Council investigating an assassination in Lebanon has put Syria's government and military on the defensive.
When the United States lets others work for it, it is smarter and stronger.
John Hall is the senior Washington correspondent of Media General News Service. E-mail: jhall@mediageneral.com.