We’ve heard of politicians being tough on crime, tough on drugs and tough on terrorism. President Bush would have us believe that he’s all of these things. But like no president before him, Bush has also made it known that he’s tough on leaks.

“There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington,” Bush said in 2003. “There’s leaks at the executive branch, there’s leaks in the legislative branch. There’s just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is.”

That’s funny, because we now know the biggest leaker of them all — the one who disclosed classified information about supposed efforts by Saddam Hussein to obtain uranium from Africa — was none other than President Bush, who admitted to the leaks yesterday. As part of the effort to sell the war in Iraq, Bush authorized Vice President Dick Cheney to allow parts of the National Intelligence Estimate to be released to reporters, even though some members of the administration had expressed doubt about the validity of the information.

It’s hard to know what to make of all this. The hypocrisy is so apparent, it’s almost as if the president wants to make himself look bad. The revelation is further proof that President Bush is his own worst enemy. He has pushed his approval ratings so low, he must be secretly rooting for the Democrats to take office.

Of course, the White House has tried to make it look as if Bush’s actions were entirely acceptable, drawing a distinction between good leaks and bad leaks. And while the White House spin machine is a very good one, the public should be able to see through this obviously weak attempt to cast Bush’s actions in a positive light.

The American people have shown a remarkable degree of tolerance for the failures of the Bush administration thus far. But with misstep after misstep, Bush continues to alienate his constituents and his allies in Congress. The supposed “mandate” that Bush earned through his 2004 reelection no longer exists. If President Bush is really as tough on leaks as he says he is, he’ll have to confront himself over this most recent revelation. Maybe then he’ll take a wider look at his presidency, and realize just how far he has fallen.