Bush battling to climb out of popularity slump

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush is battling to climb out of a slump caused by the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq war and soaring gasoline prices, events that have all combined to damage his credibility and deflate Americans' confidence in him. 

The strategy for getting his groove back, aides say, is to narrow his focus and tackle head-on those three top priorities -- hurricane recovery, Iraq and energy -- and set aside for now other items like Social Security and tax reform that he had expected to spend the fall on.