YES

Josh Marshall:

President Bush is by any reasonable measure extremely unpopular. Not unpopular -- extremely unpopular. Mid-low forties is unpopular. Mid-low thirties is extremely unpopular. Almost, but not quite unprecedented in the modern era for such a sustained period of time. The Iraq War is one of the few things that rivals his unpopularity. And the public, after signaling deep opposition to the war at the polls, sees this extremely unpopular president come before them to announce that he's expanding the really unpopular war. And if that's not enough he has the quavering look of a degenerate gambler begging his wife, half cockily half desperately, for one more chance.

Naturally, as Atrios also notes as well, for the White House to assume -- the the press to go along with it -- that Bush having the Bully Pulpit for personal appearances will make him more popular is counter intuitive. People long ago ceased approving of his policies as the nature of his failure in the one issue that gave him sympathy, a national tragedy, faded and the incompetence came forth. He isn't smart, he isn't wise, he isn't adaptable to circumstances. He's just stubborn and the sooner he's irrelevant the sooner the country will be happy to forget his existence. Two years and five days people, two years and five days.