The Politics of Katrina
BARNES, FRED
The Politics of Katrina Partisanship begins at the water's edge. BY FRED BARNES NANCY PELOSI, the House Democratic leader, tells a great story about questioning a benighted President Bush on...
...I suspect he won't...
...At a White House meeting last week with congressional leaders, she told Bush he should immediately fire Michael Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency...
...They didn't believe it...
...And the media, more hostile to Bush than ever, adopted the Democratic line that the slowness of rescue and recovery efforts was the fault of Bush and Brown...
...And it Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Democrats and independents didn't change their view of Bush's presidency...
...Within days of the first visit, Bush returned with stronger words...
...And back in Washington, he made a promise...
...Balanced against their reasons for supporting Bush, his handling of Katrina was nowhere near enough to turn them against him...
...Millions of Americans "didn't take at face value that Bush had bungled...
...Make that rock-solid...
...On the other hand, despite Bush's initial public defense of Brown, I haven't heard anyone at the White House express satisfaction with him or his performance when speaking off the record...
...In polls, the worst Bush suffered was a slight dip in his job-approval rating...
...But there was no major speech in the same time frame after Katrina...
...The people who have been hurt by this storm . . . need to know that the government is going to be with you for the long haul," he said...
...First and foremost, the elite media simply don't have the clout they used to...
...America wasn't under attack...
...Rescuing people from roofs isn't one of them...
...But there was a parallel in Bush's conduct...
...Bush responded sarcastically...
...It was the same with Katrina...
...others at the meeting tell a slightly different version of the testy encounter, a version that sounds more believable...
...They were a minimal presence in New Orleans for most of the week after the hurricane...
...Also, the red state/blue state division in the country proved durable...
...What about Bush...
...The tone and substance were wrong...
...But Lott would build a "fantastic new house," Bush said, "and I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch...
...For everything...
...He knew how Brown had performed, wasn't happy with it, and removed him from Katrina duties two days later...
...A lot was packed into that brief exchange...
...A good question is why the president, slammed mercilessly by the mainstream press, Democrats, and a few Republicans for the Katrina disaster, hasn't been blamed by the public for ineptitude in responding to the plight of New orleans...
...But as with 9/11, Bush's second reaction was more confident...
...Bush was appalled...
...He should go about this, Democrats argue, by choosing a "unity" nominee for the second Supreme Court vacancy...
...The broadcast networks in particular don't have the ability to dominate the story anymore," says Republican consultant Jeffrey Bell...
...In his first trip to the Gulf Coast, he noted that Mississippi senator Trent Lott's house had been destroyed...
...But it's her answer, not Bush's question, that is telling...
...And he should jettison his domestic agenda, especially tax cuts...
...It showed the eagerness of Democrats to exploit the hurricane and its aftermath for maximum political gain...
...Another Bush aide, seeking to absolve the president, said Brown should have alerted him to how bad conditions in New Orleans and how pathetic the actions of the mayor and governor were...
...There was never going to be a bullhorn moment" with Katri-na, the aide said...
...In the nine days after 9/11, the president delivered two powerful speeches, one at the Washington National Cathedral, the other from the Capitol...
...Those in the Republican coalition mostly agree with Bush on Iraq, terrorism, taxes, and social issues...
...Now, after politicizing Katrina and dividing the country, Democrats insist, disingenuously, that Bush de-politicize the issue and unify the country...
...Most critics, like Pelosi, fail to offer any specifics...
...Another test is whether a critic cites real examples where FEMA failed to carry out one of its missions...
...One aide said that FEMA's failure to deal with—or know about—the chaos and mayhem at the convention center in New Orleans was a clear "breakdown...
...More significantly, neither did Republicans or conservatives...
...Pelosi had merely uncorked the now-familiar blanket accusation at Brown...
...Bush was in charge again...
...The night the levees broke and indeed the next day, Bush hadn't fully grasped the dimensions of the crisis...
...And with 9/11, there was what a White House aide calls a galvanizing "bullhorn moment" when Bush showed, while speaking at Ground Zero, that he was fully in charge...
...Yes, Pelosi declared that Brown should go, and Bush asked why...
...reflected Bush's failure to seize the opportunity of Katrina for strong presidential leadership...
...His performance lacked three things we saw in 9/11...
...Of course Katrina wasn't as significant as 9/11...
...There's a good test of whether criticism of Bush is purely partisan: If the accuser also directs blame at Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco, who froze in reaction to Katrina, and New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, so overwhelmed by the hurricane that he didn't carry out the city's emergency plan, then the criticism might have some merit...
...Speaking of Blanco, she needs to clear up the biggest remaining Katrina mystery: Where were the 6,000-plus Louisiana National Guard troops...
...The president's response, Pelosi says, was to ask: Why...
...The answer is more obvious than you might think...
...If Bush falls for this, he deserves to have his job rating drop...
...Thank you for your advice," he said...
...And 9/11 changed the political balance, Katrina didn't...
...What went wrong...
...Pelosi offered no list of specific things Brown did wrong or failed to do...
...And as the symbol of an inadequate response, he was an albatross at the White House...
...It was so slow...
...In 9/11, he stumbled for a day or two, then boldly took command...
...It displayed the deep polarization in American politics that has shaped nearly everyone's take on Katrina...
...Their criticism of Bush began soon after the levees broke in New Orleans and picked up steam once it became clear that thousands of people were stranded in New Orleans without food, medicine, or imminent prospects of being rescued...
...Pointing to Brown, he said, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job...
...Her conclusion was that Bush was "oblivious, in denial, dangerous...
...In trashing the president, Democrats have overplayed their hand as never before...
...Nor should they have...
...BY FRED BARNES NANCY PELOSI, the House Democratic leader, tells a great story about questioning a benighted President Bush on Katrina relief...
...Well," she said, then paused...
...Unity in this case means a candidate Democrats like...
...By the evening of 9/11, he understood the magnitude and meaning of the attacks and told aides, including Vice President Cheney, that America was at war...
Vol. 11 • September 2005 • No. 1
