"When the people of Louisiana quit being awed by the destruction, they're going to start asking questions. What happened to the water pumps? Why didn't the levees hold? I think there will be a lot of finger-pointing,"
Newsview: Bush Faces Challenge in Katrina
By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer
President Bush, who crafted a take-charge image from the Sept. 11 attacks, faces a stiff challenge in responding to Hurricane Katrina.
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.
"There is a sense here that he's still the 9/11 president, and could bring the same magic here," said Elliott Stonecipher, an independent political consultant from Shreveport, La.
At the same time, Stonecipher and other political analysts said people are aware that Bush benefited politically from the Sept. 11 attacks, and they may be skeptical of his response to the natural disaster that has rocked the Gulf Coast.
"I can hear it already, `He's just doing it because his poll numbers are at bottom,'" Stonecipher said.
Rising gas prices and the bloodshed in Iraq have dropped Bush's job approval ratings to the lowest levels of his presidency, according to polls. Katrina is already causing higher gas prices and shortages, adding to his political woes.
While few compare Hurricane Katrina to the Sept. 11 attacks — one a natural disaster, the other a manmade one — several Gulf Coast residents reflected on Bush's performances four years ago as they discussed how he should respond to this crisis.
"I would like to see him get in here and support these people like he did in New York," said Trichia Key, 60, a Democratic voter from Batesville, Miss., who has taken in family from hard-hit Biloxi, Miss. — about 275 miles southeast from her home. "He can do it. We've seen him do it."
Even so, Key bitterly noted that the federal response may be hurt by the Iraq war.
"If we didn't have all our National Guard troops in Iraq, we could probably do a lot more," she said.
That may not be the only line of criticism.
Bernie Pinsonat, a bipartisan pollster with Southern Media and Opinion Research in Baton Rouge, La., said the president — along with local political figures — may eventually be blamed for circumstances that led to the flooding of New Orleans.
"When the people of Louisiana quit being awed by the destruction, they're going to start asking questions. What happened to the water pumps? Why didn't the levees hold? I think there will be a lot of finger-pointing," Pinsonat said.
Some Democrats circulated an article on the Editor & Publisher Web site suggesting that spending pressures from the war in Iraq, homeland security and Bush's tax cuts drained money from New Orleans flood-control projects.
"As these facts get out, and the American people learn that decisions were made not to fund improvements of the levees because of Iraq, they will not be happy," said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic consultant in Washington.
It wasn't just Democrats taking jabs at Bush. The Manchester Union-Leader, a consistently conservative voice in New Hampshire, took the president to task for not reacting quickly enough to Katrina.
"The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished," said Wednesday's editorial. "In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty."
Bush hoped to strike a decidedly different pose Wednesday.
After sticking to his vacation plans amid rising bloodshed in Iraq, the president bolted Texas two days early to oversee recovery efforts from Washington. From the Rose Garden, Bush addressed the victims directly, speaking as he did four years ago about a national cause and unity of purpose.
"I'm confident with time you'll get your life back in order. New communities will flourish. The great city of New Orleans will be back on its feet and America will be a stronger place for it," Bush said. "The country stands with you."
Responding to Bush's statement, Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg (news, bio, voting record) of New Jersey said the president should have had troops and supplies on the ground Monday. "President Bush's wake-up call came awfully late," he said.
Bush doesn't want to make the same mistake his father did in 1992, when the White House was criticized for reacting too slowly after Hurricane Andrew and then was accused of pandering.
"Initially, this helps Bush because it has him taking charge, showing leadership, marshaling the power of his office," said John Green, director of the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute for Applied Politics.
"The downside is that if the recovery doesn't go quickly, despite what the president does to mobilize resources, people will view his involvement cynically," Green said. "In other words, `He's just doing this for show.'"
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EDITOR'S NOTE — Ron Fournier has covered politics and the White House for The Associated Press since 1993. |
