Even Superman could not survive Kryptonite. And so it is with George W. Bush, once the political world’s “man of steel.” The intense and seemingly sudden unraveling of the Bush presidency is almost as shocking as Superman’s first near-fatal encounter with natural forces he could not overcome. But the Bush meltdown has been in the cards a long time.

The source of this president’s power — the cult of personality so finely crafted in his image — is proving to be the key to his undoing. The secrecy, spin control and demands for loyalty in his White House have always been about making Bush the one and only face of his presidency. From the West Wing inner circle to the Cabinet, the Bush team was on orders to stay out of the limelight and let the president take the lead on all fronts.

This system worked well for Bush when there was mostly good news to claim credit for. But now that blame for bad news must be handed out, the president stands almost alone in the receiving line. Even those who have real power in the Bush White House, starting with Vice President Dick Cheney, keep a low profile. And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has shied away from the stage after irritating some in the White House with his commanding presence at the outset of the Iraq War. (Of course, the timing of his near-disappearance worked neatly for Rumsfeld, coming just as the war grew unpopular with the public.)

One of the few in Bush’s entourage to be allowed a high profile — his political architect, Karl Rove — is now a lightning rod for some of the president’s problems, especially for the possibility of criminal violations in the revealing of a CIA agent’s identity. Truth be told, Bush could use more lighting rods to deflect the attention and the blame.

Presidents are well-advised to let others take credit in good times, so there is someone around to do their bleeding when things go awry. Ronald Reagan’s famous detachment from the particulars of governance earned him a reputation as “the Teflon president.” Nothing bad ever seemed to stick to him.

Reagan’s apparent distance probably helped him escape harm — even the possibility of impeachment — for his team’s rogue foreign policy and blatant defiance of Congress to fund a covert war in Nicaragua. He had operatives such as Oliver North and insiders such as National Security Adviser John Poindexter to take the heat for using proceeds from illegal arms sales to Iran to secretly finance the anti-communist contras in Central America.

The public was never convinced that Reagan even knew about his administration’s controversial foreign adventures. And when he finally acknowledged what happened, he could persuasively act like he was as outraged and disappointed as his critics were.

There was a time early in Bush’s presidency that his team sought to duplicate the Reagan model, with the president shown as a corporate-like chairman of the board who sets the tone and lets others handle the dirty details. But after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the evolution of Bush as an activist war president, the Reagan model fell away. Bush is now in danger of becoming a Velcro president. Bad things stick to him.

You can see why Bush still gets blamed for poor handling of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath. He’s jetted back and forth to the Gulf Coast states as if he is the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Even firing FEMA boss Michael D. Brown didn’t help Bush because he initially praised Brown, then worked desperately to be seen as personally in command of relief efforts.

A better approach might have been to angrily fire Brown as the culprit, appoint a stellar replacement and move on without the relentless series of photo opportunities in the affected region.

If the Iraq War does not soon regain public support, Bush is in grave danger — for the remainder of his presidency and for his legacy in the history books. With Rumsfeld in the background, there is no one other than the president himself to bear responsibility for what happens there.

Bush’s stubborn determination to invade Iraq with or without support from Congress or the United Nations makes him the sole target for the blame game. Sure, Congress voted to authorize the war, but the White House short-circuited debate, a move that now haunts Bush. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, even those who voted “yes,” now have plenty of cover to say they were just following the president’s lead.

Bush’s “you’re with me or against me” management style served him well when the public liked where he was going. But now it could undo him.

It’s like the irony of Superman’s vulnerability to Kryptonite: A substance from his own home planet could bring him down.

Contributing Editor Craig Crawford is a news analyst for MSNBC, CNBC and “The Early Show” on CBS. He is the author of “Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You Against the Media.”