Uniter not a divider update

Looks like President Can't We All Just Get Along...With Me is having some trouble with the troops:

After two years of largely lockstep unity, congressional Republicans are parting ways with President Bush on key domestic priorities, jeopardizing the White House's control over the legislative agenda in the months ahead.

Complaining that they have been inadequately consulted in the design of policy by administration officials distracted by foreign concerns, GOP lawmakers have begun to draft their own proposals and to distance themselves from some aspects of Bush's plans for tax cuts, health care and other social policies.

The sharpest dissent has arisen over the White House's plans to restructure Medicare. Even before the proposal's completion, several senior Republicans have criticized Bush's anticipated suggestion to offer prescription drug coverage only to elderly people who join doctors' networks and other private health plans.

At a recent meeting with Vice President Cheney, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and other GOP House leaders urged the White House to drop plans to issue a detailed proposal and, instead, to allow Congress to take the lead, according to congressional sources. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who wields heavy influence over Medicare policy as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he, too, is no longer deferring to the White House.

Grassley said the White House "botched" the development and announcement of its plan and caused "needless problems" by failing to confer with him early enough about pitfalls. "We've tried to be polite," Grassley said in an interview, but "I can't wait until the president presents a program to Congress . . . any longer. I've got to start right now."

But...but...he has a mandate. Don't you guys listen to the pundits?