Bush's Budget is Catching Up

Whenever a president hits his second term, they try to do anything to make sure they don't become a lame duck. Bush wasn't any different; he had a whole list of things on his agenda, including social security reform. Then, he went on vacation for too long.
Bush has yet to veto a spending bill, likely his way of apeasing the congressional Republicans. He let every bill though, uncaring if it was pork or not, so then he could get his agenda through. He also had a huge network to distribute talking points to rally conservatives outside of DC (see: http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2005/09/the_gopconserva.html). With several tax cuts (which hasn't actually done anything to help the budget, as some have claimed) and a major military campaign going on, the federal budget is stretched very thin. Then Katrina hit.
Katrina not only had a horrendous federal response, but has long term damage that could easily cost billions. Bush now has to make a choice.
But yet, based on his comments, he doesn't want to make a choice. He would like to be able to spend the money to rebuild New Orleans, keep the tax cuts, keep full support in military operations in Iraq, and not make any other changes. Fiscal conservatives, who bit their tongue in the past few years to support Bush, now are out in the wood-work and calling for some balance to be made.
The already low support for the operations in Iraq have translated to polls suggesting that Bush should cut down on Iraq. John McCain has called for cutting out all the pork out of the budget. Others, especially in the House, have called to delay the Medicare reform for a few years.
Bush has to make a decision and soon. His PR campaigns are the only reason he has ever been the leader of the Republican party. Now he has to show that he is a leader in substance.