Follow the Leader

McClellan Watch

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee was interrupted by the FISA vote. So I'll have more on Monday.

The hearing opened up with committee Chairman John Conyers raising the possibility that Vice President Cheney and others at the White House had obstructed justice when they sent McClellan out to state -- incorrectly -- that Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby was not involved in the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

Ranking member Lamar Smith accused McClellan of "selling out the president and his friends for a few pieces of silver."

Flood Watch

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush helicoptered over a water-soaked stretch of eastern Iowa on Thursday, swooping low in Marine One to inspect a burst dam, collapsed bridges and saturated buildings here before landing to offer sympathy to residents struggling to cope with severe flooding that has displaced thousands. . . .

"Federal disaster officials said the repercussions from the flooding across states present their biggest challenge since Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 disaster that, for many, placed a hard-to-shake stamp of incompetence on the Bush administration. They said they have learned a host of lessons, as simple as the need to share responsibility for the distribution of water among several agencies or to create mobile recovery centers for people who cannot travel to existing centers.

"Since Katrina, Bush has also been alert to the public relations dimensions of disaster response, making an array of visits to the victims of wildfire, tornadoes, flooding and -- in Minneapolis last year -- bridge collapse. . . .

"Today's three-hour visit by Bush, which included stops at a Red Cross shelter and a washed-out middle-class neighborhood near the University of Iowa, seemed to lack the emotional resonance of those previous trips, with much of his interaction with ordinary Iowans out of view of reporters."

Thomas Beaumont and Jason Clayworth write in the Des Moines Register: "President Bush offered sympathy to Iowans coping with the state's worst natural disaster on a tour of flood-ravaged eastern Iowa on Thursday - and he pledged a coordinated recovery and reconstruction effort.

"But he made few promises during a three-hour swing from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City, and some wished he offered more specific plans. . . .

"'I think he is aware of how catastrophic it is for us and is willing to help. Now the question becomes, what does his staff see as routes to help. That's less clear,' said Kay Halloran, mayor of Cedar Rapids."

If Iowans had wanted Bush to stay longer, maybe they should have scheduled a Republican fundraiser. Bush is spending all day today traveling to Florida and North Carolina to raise money for GOP candidates.

Praising the president also gets his attention. Here, from Bush's photo op yesterday with Iowa Gov. Chet Culver: