He is either with US or against US, he can't be both.
THat is a strong possibility. As much as Bush's imperfection need to be forgiven, so are the voters'. Bush is held hostage by this legislation with Dems threatening him and NRAers threatening him on the other side. The point is that an intelligent argument must be lead instead of falling into party lines, and we have to make sure Bush will not cover up things in his explanations for his stance. We have to demand him an explanation. If he provides none or rationalizes things, then I will start to worry, not until then.
That said, if people are POed after the economy that cannot be proped up, Bush better not PO the rest of his support on his principles as opposed to his performance which will suffer in support. He has to indeed emphasis on his principles when his economic performance are criticised. If he clings to performance as his father did and abandons principles, he is toast.
When you get him to that stage, ask about the open borders situation also.