Here’s one of those news analysis pieces that expose the shallowness of the political-media mindset.

The war in Iraq seems to have taken a turn for the better and the opposition at home has failed in all efforts to impose its own strategy. North Korea is dismantling its nuclear program. The budget deficit is falling. A new attorney general has been confirmed despite objections from the left.

After more than two years of being buffeted by one political disaster after another, President Bush and his strategists think they may finally be getting back at least a bit of their footing. While still facing enormous challenges, from the crisis in Pakistan to the backlash over children’s health care, they hope Bush has arrested his downward spiral and established a better foundation for the remainder of his time in office.

…Yet none of this has particularly impressed the public at large, which remains skeptical that anything meaningful has changed and still gives Bush record-low approval ratings. The disconnect highlights his dilemma heading into the last year of his administration: Can anything short of a profound event repair an unpopular president’s public standing so late in his tenure? Can tactical victories in Washington salvage a wounded presidency?

Who cares about “public standing?” Well, Bill Clinton — that’s all he cares about. But Bush can leave office knowing his administration:

• negotiated an end to a civil war in Sudan that had claimed 2.4 million lives
• ended the Taliban’s reign of terror
• ended Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror
• took a bold step to drain the swamp where terror breeds
• dealt countless defeats to Al Qaeda
• had the guts to attempt Social Security reform — this will resonate in 20 years

“The law of averages is finally turning our way,” said Mark McKinnon, a Bush adviser. “Iraq’s a big part of it.” But it will have to be sustained over months to come to turn around public opinion, he added. “The fact that there’s not substantial movement is not surprising. We have to get through the next part of next year and the [public] will start to look at the presidency through a different prism.”

Some Democrats agree that Bush seems to be doing better politically, but said the White House is fooling itself to think it amounts to much of a recovery. Even though security has improved in Iraq, political reconciliation remains elusive. Economic signs at home appear increasingly worrisome. And, they said, the public has largely made up its mind on Bush.

For now, thanks in part to Big Baloney and in part to Bush’s inability to articulate his positions effectively.

“Look, they’ve stopped the bleeding, but they’re not getting well,” said William Galston, a former aide to Bill Clinton and a sometime adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). “While people are pleased that the war is going better, I think the American people have closed the book on the war. They don’t think it was worth entering, they don’t think it was worth fighting. So tactical victories on the ground that might have made a difference two years ago aren’t moving the needle right now.”

Of course, that’s all the matters. Polls and partisan advantage.