Dealing With Political Disaster

This crisis finds the president looking impotent at best, incompetent at worst. And there is an element of whining to Bush's refusal to shoulder his responsibility -- especially should the press continue to make it clear how intensely he and his top aides are trying to pass the buck.

The men behind Bush's bubble are clearly hoping that their tried and true methods will serve them well yet again and that over time, Bush's reputation will recover.

But with every body removed from the attics of New Orleans over the coming weeks, America will remember the colossal failure of government to protect its people.

The Overviews

Here's Tim Russert talking to Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today Show" this morning: "Eventually, Matt, there has to be some level of accountability," Russert said. "Something terrible happened here. The fact is state, local and federal government did not protect its people. It's why governments were created. . . .

"Will Katrina and the stumbling of the federal government define his second term? That's why the president has to be bold and assertive in trying to correct that impression."

Newsweek asks: "What went wrong? Just about everything. How the system failed is a tangled story, but the basic narrative is becoming clearer: hesitancy, bureaucratic rivalries, failures of leadership from city hall to the White House and epically bad luck combined to create a morass. . . .

"Bush's many critics will say that the president was disengaged, on vacation, distracted by Iraq and insensitive to the needs of poor black people. The White House blames the magnitude of the storm itself, patchy information on the ground and a confused chain of command, according to a senior Bush aide who requests anonymity in order to speak freely about internal administration discussions. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. . . . Still, we expect more from a president."

Matthew Cooper writes in Time magazine about Bush's second trip to the disaster zone: "It was better than his first on Friday. He didn't offer any untenable defenses of the federal response and he didn't say anything too off key like he did last time when he vowed to rebuild Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott's home and fondly recalled his partying days in New Orleans. . . .

"Still, his visit studiously avoided the hardest-hit areas of Katrina and the itinerary all but guaranteed that he'd be met with friendly audiences. The displaced persons he met at the Bethany World Church were well cared for and for the most part grateful for their surroundings. In Poplarville, Mississippi, Bush toured a middle class neighborhood where the damage seemed minimal. Homes were intact, although many pine trees were felled. But most seemed to have hit lawns and carports rather than causing real structural damage to homes. . . .

"Much of Bush's presidency has been built around keeping him away from unfriendly audiences. His campaign rallies were carefully screened and so are his policy events where he chews the fat about issues like Social Security. But that instinct surely can't be serving him well at a time when the country feels like a collective primal scream over seeing their countrymen left suffering."

Dan Balz writes in The Washington Post: "The first week of September 2005 likely will be remembered as one of the most troubled weeks of George W. Bush's presidency, a time in which natural disaster combined with bureaucratic bungling in ways that threatened to inundate an administration already on the defensive.

"Even before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast last Monday, Bush was buffeted by public dissatisfaction over the war in Iraq and consumer outrage over rising gasoline prices. But the federal government's widely criticized response to the hurricane's devastation in New Orleans and elsewhere turned a challenging environment into one that is potentially overwhelming. . . .