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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (170345)	9/1/2005 11:28:21 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Bush could be target or hero suntimes.com September 1, 2005 BY RON FOURNIER WASHINGTON -- 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 also could make him an easy target should Katrina's victims start looking for somebody to blame. ''There is a sense here that he's still the 9/11 president, and could bring the same magic here,'' said Elliott Stonecipher, a Louisiana political consultant. At the same time, Stonecipher said people are aware that Bush benefited politically from Sept. 11, and they may be skeptical of his response to the natural disaster. ''I can hear it already, 'He's just doing it because his poll numbers are at bottom,''' Stonecipher said. Trichia Key, a Democratic voter from Batesville, Miss., said she wanted Bush to "support these people like he did in New York." ''He can do it. We've seen him do it," she said. Louisiana pollster Bernie Pinsonat said Bush, along with local figures, may eventually be blamed. ''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?'' Pinsonat said. Some Democrats circulated an article suggesting that spending pressures from the war in Iraq and Bush's tax cuts drained money from 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.