George Bush has "reluctantly" accepted Harriet Miers decision to withdraw as a nominee to the US supreme court.
The president blamed her withdrawal on calls in the senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege.
But the move goes well beyond that. What did for Ms Miers, who was at one time Mr Bush's personal lawyer, was the unexpectedly strong opposition her nomination stirred among Republicans, particularly on the Republican right.
Many conservatives attacked Mr Bush for nominating someone who had no experience as a judge and sketchy experience on issues such as abortion rights. Earlier this week, a conservative group, Americans for Better Justice, bought radio and TV advertising time to run anti-Miers ads.
Ms Miers had been doing the rounds on Capitol Hill but apparently to no avail. Arlen Specter, the respected chairman of the senate judiciary committee, signalled that Ms Miers would receive a rough reception at her nomination hearing.
He said he wanted to press her on her views of the administration's detention of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay, making clear he remains uncertain of her command of complex constitutional issues.
The problem was Ms Miers failed in key respects. She lacked the intellectual clout of Mr Bush's other supreme court pick, John Roberts, and she was wasn't conservative enough for the Republican base.
While Democrats may be tempted to see the withdrawal of the Miers nomination as yet another setback for an already embattled president, some were wary.
Senator Barack Obama from Illinois, a rising star within the Democratic party, cautioned his colleagues to be careful what they wished for.
"For those who were concerned that Harriet Miers was too conservative, you should not be too sanguine about this," Mr Obama said.
As GOPbloggers states, Mr Bush can easily "reunify" conservatives if he picks a " genuine judicial originalist with strong credentials".
Mr Bush now faces a tricky task. He can choose someone that the Republican right will approve. But if he does, he risks arousing the ire of many other Americans. The problem for the president is that his political capital is steadily diminishing for any coming nomination fight.
His attempt to reform the federal pension system has sunk without trace, Iraq is a millstone, Hurricane Katrina exposed a complete lack of leadership, the Miers episode revealed poor political judgment and the threat of indicments hangs over top White House figures in connection with the Valerie Plame affair. All those setbacks leave the president considerably diminished.
