It started when he misread a 51% victory over a horrible democrat candidate as a mandate. No president has had a mandate since MAYBE Reagan, and even he had to deal with a democrat congress.
It accellerated when there was no Plan B or any communication and plans from Bush - or anyone else for that matter. I don't blame this strictly on Bush - and in fact blame it more on the congressional leadership for not picking up the slack. Followers aren't respected outside of the beltway.
True but worse yet when he decided to spend his “political capital” on something he did virtually no campaigning on in 2004 - private accounts for health.