New York ? George W. Bush accepted the Republican presidential nomination in Philadelphia four summers ago with a speech packed full of ambitious campaign promises.

He would overhaul Medicare, Social Security and public education, cut taxes, reinvigorate the military, restore civility to the political system and help the poor with tax credits for health insurance, assistance buying homes and charitable-giving incentives. “We will use these good times for great goals,” he said. “We will confront the hard issues.”

Thursday night, President Bush will accept the party’s nomination for a second term here with a mixed record on those hard issues. On some — tax cuts and education — he made enormous progress toward his goals. On others — Medicare, the military and his “compassion” agenda — he made partial progress. And on the rest — Social Security and attempting to “change the tone” of Washington — nothing much has changed.

Bush’s 2000 acceptance speech was widely seen as having successfully introduced the nation to a leader with strong principles, clear policies and a determination to return dignity to the Oval Office after President Bill Clinton’s scandals. The speech’s main refrain — “They had their chance. They have not led. We will” — neatly encapsulated Bush’s message to the largest audience the relatively little-known Texas governor had ever faced.

9-11 changed everything

But the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, made the Bush presidency largely unrecognizable from the one he outlined in Philadelphia. He did not even mention terrorism in that speech, which reflected the country’s inward-looking priorities. After promising a “humble” foreign policy on the stump, his main non-domestic proposal that night was for a missile defense system first debated two decades earlier.

September 11, said Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot, “redefined the planet.” And it would be impossible to assess Bush’s work toward his campaign promises without considering the way the attacks necessitated an entirely new agenda for his presidency: a Department of Homeland Security, the USA Patriot Act, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and against al-Qaida.

Even so, a look at Bush’s record on his original promises shows he was more successful at achieving specific policies such as tax cuts and changes in federal education support than at translating into specific achievement the broader promises he used in 2000 to present himself as “a different kind of Republican” — a promise of bipartisan cooperation and help for the poor and disadvantaged.

This pattern could be reinforced if Bush wins a second term. Bush’s hard-fought victories on tax cuts and national security have turned him into a polarizing figure, reducing the chances that he can command the sort of bipartisan majorities needed for ambitious proposals such as restoring Social Security’s solvency, according to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

“With the delicate politics we had, there was always a risk that you could take the fabric that had already been ripped in the Clinton years and make it irreparable, and we’re almost to that point,” said Norman Ornstein, an American Enterprise Institute political scientist. “His actions as a divider, not a uniter, have taken us further from any deliberations on Social Security or real Medicare reform.”

No cooperation

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said this week that he is “more concerned” about the loss of bipartisan cooperation than any other issue, including terrorism. “This administration made some big mistakes at the front end,” he said. “They didn’t develop relationships on the Hill.” Hagel said he told Bush in early 2001 that “you’re going to need the trust and relationships that you build on Capitol Hill. They didn’t do that.”

Campaign aides to Sen. John F. Kerry, Bush’s Democratic opponent, put Bush’s vow in 2000 to be a “uniter, not a divider” at the top of a list they have compiled under the title “Bush’s Broken Promises.”

Other unmet promises on the Democrats’ list: Social Security, an HMO patients’ bill of rights, a promise to renew the assault weapons ban, and his vows not to engage in nation building or to overcommit the armed forces. “President Bush made a lot of promises during his 2000 presidential campaign. The record shows it was all talk,” said David Sirota of the anti-Bush Center for American Progress.