Dealing With Political Disaster

What took so long?

Some Republicans told the Times "that the normally nimble White House political operation had fallen short in part because the president and his aides were scattered outside Washington on vacation, leaving no one obviously in charge at a time of great disruption. Mr. Rove and Mr. Bush were in Texas, while Vice President Dick Cheney was at his Wyoming ranch.

"Mr. Bush's communications director, Nicolle Devenish, was married this weekend in Greece, and a number of Mr. Bush's political advisers -- including Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee chairman -- attended the wedding."

As Nagourney and Kornblut explain, Rove's job one is "to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana who, as it happens, are Democrats."

That started on Saturday.

Manuel Roig-Franzia and Spencer Hsu wrote in Sunday's Washington Post: "Bush, who has been criticized, even by supporters, for the delayed response to the disaster, used his weekly radio address to put responsibility for the failure on lower levels of government. The magnitude of the crisis 'has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities,' he said. 'The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable.' "

One "senior Bush official" went so far as to assert that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency as of Saturday -- a charge so inaccurate that The Post was forced to run a correction.

Elisabeth Bumiller and Adam Nagourney wrote in Sunday's New York Times: "In a sign of the mounting anxiety at the White House, Mr. Bush made a rare Saturday appearance in the Rose Garden before live television cameras. . . .

"As Mr. Bush spoke, Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, listened on the sidelines, as did Dan Bartlett, the counselor to the president and Mr. Bush's overseer of communications strategy. Their presence underscored how seriously the White House is reacting to the political crisis it faces."

Jim VandeHei wrote in Sunday's Washington Post: "Louisiana officials pushed back hard against the White House yesterday, sharply criticizing President Bush for offering a tentative and insufficient response to the obliteration of New Orleans and then trying to shift the blame to the state and local governments.

"Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) accused Bush of failing to fund efforts to fortify the levee protecting New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit, and of failing to send troops, supplies and other assistance quickly enough in Katrina's aftermath. 'Would the president please stop taking photo-ops, and please come and see what I'm trying to show him?' Landrieu asked on ABC's 'This Week.' She threatened to 'punch' Bush or anyone else who criticizes the response of the local sheriffs, one day after administration officials blamed state and local authorities for missteps in relief and rescue efforts."

Scott Shane writes for the New York Times: "As the Bush administration tried to show a more forceful effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, government officials on Sunday escalated their criticism and sniping over who was to blame for the problems plaguing the initial response. . . .