With a new Congress that’s run by Democrats, a restive public that’s pining for change and a government in Iraq that’s descending into chaos, the way forward in Washington might not include George W. Bush.

Despite the power he has to ramp up his use of the veto, and his tenacious hold on his powers as commander in chief, Bush faces a tough challenge to remain relevant in the waning 24 months of his presidency. Indeed, if not for his war-making clout, this president might be the lamest lame duck ever.

There was something almost sad about Bush putting his own name on an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal that laid out his legislative agenda on the eve of the formal Democratic takeover of Capitol Hill. Clearly gone are the days when Vice President Dick Cheney could use a private meeting with Republican lawmakers to set the congressional priorities list. Now, it seems, the president is positioning himself as just another spectator on the outskirts of power — firing off letters to the editor. Perhaps he should start his own blog.

Democrats are making the most of returning to power at the Capitol after a dozen years on the outs. Armed with a midterm election mandate widely seen as a repudiation of Bush, they are talking tough about dealing with the White House. For symbolic starters, Cheney was compelled to give up his ornate office just off the House floor to Charles B. Rangel, the New York Democrat who is now chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

As the clock ticks past the three-quarters mark on the Bush presidency, it is the new, 110th Congress and its crop of 65 new faces that will appear the fresher and more promising, garnering the lion’s share of news media attention — while administration figures come across more and more as yesterday’s news.

In response to the political test posed by that dynamic, Bush is calling for bipartisanship. Funny how the losing side in an election almost always ends up being the one to call for magnanimity. After 12 years of being made almost invisible, especially in the House, Democrats appear in no mood to do anything but pay lip service to the current calls for collaboration. Although careful not to say so publicly, congressional Democrats are champing at the bit for payback. Evicting Cheney from his office was just the beginning.

At a minimum, Democrats are on a roll to remind the nation that the federal government is about a lot more than who occupies the Oval Office. Most Americans could be excused for nearly forgetting in recent years that Congress existed, let alone that it’s the branch of government that the nation’s founders intended to be the premier power in Washington.

Flash points abound for turf contests between the executive and legislative branches. Tax cuts, student loans and prescription drugs for retirees top the list of domestic hot buttons. Immigration might be the only issue where Bush and most Democrats in Congress can find common ground. But the biggest smackdown of all could be over the way forward in Iraq. Foreign policy is the one arena where presidents traditionally have the upper hand vis-à-vis Congress, but in this case Bush’s prospects run afoul of many factors beyond his control.

As if more evidence was needed for showing the chaotic plight of the Iraqi government and the Bush administration’s inability to control events there, the tinhorn handling of Saddam Hussein’s hanging looked more like the Mideast version of a Wild West posse rushing to execute the bad guy before the law arrives. And the U.S. government came across as clueless and helpless, forced to try to distance itself from the whole affair.

The once-stirring image of the fall of Saddam’s statue in Baghdad is now replaced by a disturbing cell-phone video of an execution that looks remarkably like those horrific pictures of terrorists beheading hostages. The event was so botched that Saddam almost came across as worthy of sympathy.

If the Bush team could not at least manage to make sure no one took unauthorized pictures of the hanging, you have to wonder how the president can ever get a handle on much bigger problems in Iraq. This lack of control over events, combined with a Congress no longer willing to look the other way, poses a threat to Bush that even his powers as commander in chief might not meet.

Still, Democrats will have to search for a way to stop Bush if, as expected, he calls for more troops in Iraq. So far, the new majority is coming across as reluctant to pull back on the purse strings out of fear that the president will accuse Congress of undermining the troops already there.

Using his executive power to commit those forces despite the objections of Congress could be Bush’s way of proving that he is still in charge. But if it does nothing to improve conditions in Iraq, then his way forward in Washington will be lonely indeed.

Contributing Editor Craig Crawford is a news analyst for MSNBC, CNBC and “The Early Show” on CBS. He can be reached at ccrawford@cq.com.