A Dearth of Answers

Here is the text of Bush's remarks yesterday.

Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey write for Newsweek.com: "From the moment Katrina set aim for the Gulf Coast, White House officials have had two other storms on their minds: last year's devastating tsunami, to which Bush was criticized for responding too slowly, and the political turmoil that Bush faces here at home over the war and the economy. . . .

"As Bush returns to Washington to deal with Katrina's aftermath, it's a chance for him to look presidential and to briefly turn public attention from a troubled war to the homefront. . . .

"[But] the Bush administration faces some immediate, urgent challenges -- and serious questions about its response to the disaster. For all the president's statements ahead of the hurricane, the region seemed woefully unprepared for the flooding of New Orleans -- a catastrophe that has long been predicted by experts and politicians alike. There seems to have been no contingency planning for a total evacuation of the city, including the final refuges of the city's Superdome and its hospitals. There were no supplies of food and water ready offshore -- on Navy ships for instance -- in the event of such flooding, even though government officials knew there were thousands of people stranded inside the sweltering and powerless city."

Ron Fournier writes for the Associated Press: "Cutting short his vacation and marshaling the power of the federal government could help reverse his sliding job approval rating. But the president's hands-on approach seems a bit too political for some, and makes him an easy target should Katrina's victims start looking for somebody to blame during the long, costly road to recovery.

"In purely political terms, the question is whether Bush can live up to the tough, can-do reputation he cultivated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Or whether he falls short of expectations and pays a political price, as his father did after Hurricane Andrew slammed Florida in 1992."

Incidentally, Bush said his in ABC interview this morning: "I hope people don't play politics at this time of a natural disaster the likes of which this country has never seen."

Does He Get It?

Perhaps the harshest critique of all is that Bush doesn't get it. And it's a critique coming from elements of both the left and right.

A New York Times editorial today says: "George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end. . . .

"Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday -- which seemed casual to the point of carelessness -- suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis."

National Review's Corner blog was full of harsh critiques yesterday. Rod Dreher wrote: "We don't need mere emoting. . . . But we do need our president to make an emotional connection of some sort with his suffering countrymen. You can be tough, competent AND emotional. It's called Giuliani 101."