Demanding Answers

What Investigation?

After a few questions to Bush's spokesman about this investigation, however, it started to look an awful lot like a half-hearted stalling tactic.

As Michael Kranish writes in the Boston Globe: "By afternoon, however, McClellan seemed to shift the president's declaration, indicating that Bush himself would not be directly involved.

"The president 'will lead an effort to make sure that there is a thorough analysis,' McClellan said. McClellan did not answer basic questions about the investigation, such as whether it would be conducted by a White House task force or an independent review panel, which would probably be more critical.

"In any case, McClellan said, any investigation should come later because the White House is focused on the plight of the destitute victims in the ravaged areas of the Gulf Coast."

Anne E. Kornblut and Carl Hulse write in the New York Times: "For the first time since the hurricane hit, Mr. Bush met with leaders from both parties, capping a day of constant political attention to a crisis that has exposed fault lines within the Republican Party and threatens to overtake the entire Congressional agenda. Mr. Bush promised to lead an investigation into what went wrong, although a White House spokesman quickly qualified the statement, saying the inquiry would come later to avoid diverting resources from the recovery efforts. . . .

"Describing it as an 'analysis,' not an investigation, Mr. McClellan would not say whether the emergency failures would be examined by an independent commission, as the Sept. 11 attacks were, or even when the president wanted the process to start."

Scott the Pinata

Here's the eminently readable text of yesterday's briefing.

As blogger Wonkette put it: "To judge by today's White House briefing, Katrina is the new Rove." She was referring to a spate of belligerent briefings in July about White House adviser Rove's involvement in the leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

But in fact yesterday's questioning was almost more reminiscent of the full-on lusty clamoring over Monica Lewinsky in the previous administration's briefing room.

Losing Control of the Story

Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post: "The normally adept White House has had trouble settling on a message over the past week. Officials have condemned the 'blame game' even as they point fingers at state and local authorities. They have made public assertions -- that nobody anticipated a levee breach and that Louisiana did not declare a state of emergency -- that turned out to be flat wrong. Now, Bush is in the position of promising to lead an investigation but saying it's still a question of 'if things went wrong.' "

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "The Bush White House is known for its ability to remain in control of its message and image, sliding out of crises with barely a scratch. Not this time.

"Despite day after day of appearances by President Bush aimed at undoing the political damage from a poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the White House has not been able to regain its footing, already shaken by the war in Iraq and a death toll exceeding 1,880."