Katrina may have been Rove's biggest triumph

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:


Katrina: Slow As Molasses
Submitted by Digby on August 25, 2007 - 1:04pm.



There was an interesting little factoid in Joshua Green's great article on Karl Rove in this months Atlantic, that has everyone scratching their heads:

Hurricane Katrina clearly changed the public perception of Bush’s presidency. Less examined is the role Rove played in the defining moment of the administration’s response: when Air Force One flew over Louisiana and Bush gazed down from on high at the wreckage without ordering his plane down. Bush advisers Matthew Dowd and Dan Bartlett wanted the president on the ground immediately, one Bush official told me, but were overruled by Rove for reasons that are still unclear: “Karl did not want the plane to land in Louisiana.” Rove’s political acumen seemed to be deserting him altogether.

That picture of Bush looking down on the city from on high in his favorite little air force one costume was a terrible image. But there can be no doubt that what Rove was thinking about in those moments was not whether it would be good for the country or the people of New Orleans for the president to get on the ground immediately. He was thinking about how to turn the situation into a political advantage.

In the early days of Katrina, Bush was very strangely disengaged, even when he got back to Washington and saw the full scope of the damage. Again, it's impossible to know exactly what was going through their minds, but it was an odd performance even by Bush standards. It's hard to see how anyone could calculate that it was a good idea for the president to appear not to care about one of America's oldest and most beloved cities being destroyed while its stranded residents begged for food and water. And yet they seemed to be moving like thick, sticky molasses.

Within days it was reported in the NY Times that Karl Rove was in charge of the reconstruction effort in the gulf. Dan Froomkin in the Washington Post observed:

Rove's leadership role suggests quite strikingly that any and all White House decisions and pronouncements regarding the recovery from the storm are being made with their political consequences as the primary consideration. More specifically: With an eye toward increasing the likelihood of Republican political victories in the future, pursuing long-cherished conservative goals, and bolstering Bush's image.....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/katrina_slow_molasses?tx=3

[kurth]

1. What punishment befits this evil pig?

[rodeodance]

3. so far, it is life of leisure ------I read somewhere he has 3 houses.

[acmavm]

4. There's no punishment too harsh or severe as far as I'm concerned.

[liberalmuse]

6. The same punishment the Nazi's got after WWII.

He is guilty of high treason, and crimes against humanity. That being said, he deserves to be locked in a high end kitchen with Hannibal Lector.

[Uben]

2. Biggest triumph my ass!

Probably his biggest failure! He was in charge of reconstruction, and we have seen how that is going. The puny little bastard knows nothing except how to politicize things, and he even screwed that up! I am tired of people lavishing praise on this sycophant. He deserves nothing less than to spend the balance of his life in prison pressing license plates. His service to America (yes, we are his boss) has been nothing less than incompetent. His soul purpose was to make every aspect of our government subject to republican oversight, which itself should be considered traitorous.

KArl Rove is a leech, sucking the blood out of our political institution. He needs to be stepped on and squashed!

(sycophant:noun. a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite]

[mikekohr]

5. New Orleans Hurricane of 1965

I believe the year was 1965 when New Orleans was devastated by a catagory 4 hurricane. At 6:30 AM the next morning, President Johnson was on the ground and walked into a darkened shelter. President Johnson held a flashlite to his face saying, "I'm Lyndon Johnson, the President of the United States," promising the occupants of the shelter, "....and I'm here to help."

Bush took three days to come off vacation and then attended campaign fund raisers, and played air guitar and ate cake at a birthday party for John McCain before flying over the devastated city of New Orleans, were the bodies of American citizens floated, bloated, in the flooded streets.

Hurricane Katrina stands as the most costly natural disaster is U.S. history. Hurricane Clueless that followed, stands as the greatest un-natural disaster in our nation's history.

mike kohr

[blondie58]

7. yep, you're right on that, mike

Hurricane Clueless/ aka President Bush has hurt this country for a long time to come.

Welcome to DU.

[AnneD]

8. I've heard the tapes of what transpired then...

He was personally involved in seeing that aid got there. We have forgotten what real leaders do.

I think what happened in VN pained him so deeply that he couldn't face the families so he didn't run. Unlike some, he at least had a concious.