Looking back at Katrina: Bush's leadership problem

[BobcatJH]

A look at presidential incompetence from September 1, 2005.

In the sporting world, there are good players and there are great players. Good players excel in the early moments of games, shining well before crunch time begins. Great players turn it on when it counts most, coming through in the contests' closing seconds – when games are truly on the line, when the difference between winning and losing, leading and failing is razor thin.

It's easy to be president when no one's watching. It's easy to steer the ship when the sailing is smooth. It's easy to be President Bush when your day consists of staged photo opportunities and carefully crafted appearances.

But, now that the game is on the line, now that Hurricane Katrina has left much of the Gulf Coast destroyed and her residents dead, dying or homeless, Bush is failing when he is needed most.

Bush's failings aren't simply being pointed out around the blogosphere; they're being highlighted – and criticized – by those on the ground. Jefferson Parish official Deano Bonano wondered if the proper support, thanks to the war in Iraq, was available. One National Guardsman in New Orleans said there was no plan. A Mississippi fire chief said the help that was promised still hasn't arrived. Reports from New Orleans television have maintained that no FEMA helicopter drops of supplies have taken place. None. And this is day four.

In response to Bonano's statements on CNN, Brown said, "Someday we'll know for sure where the truth of all that lies." Bullshit. We know now that drastic failings in leadership have worsened the disaster that followed Katrina. Shifting funds. Shifting manpower. Shifting priorities. What we're seeing now is a direct result of that failure to lead, of Bush's failure.

When Bush took to the airwaves yesterday, he delivered a terrible speech, a speech the New York Times called "one of the worst speeches of his life." A lot has been said during his presidency that Bush isn't a good public speaker. That fact was never more obvious yesterday, when we saw the president stammer, stutter and stumble his way through a painfully dry speech when true emotion was needed. Bush wasn't stumbling due to the weight of the situation; he was crumbling under the pressure before America's eyes.

Bush's only success came in overwhelming the audience with numbers – numbers that, while impressive on paper, represent assistance that hasn't reached the affected area yet. Further, never once during the entire short speech did Bush ask Americans to make a sacrifice. Never once did he mention conservation – in any form. Never once did he ask anyone to do more than donate to relief efforts. What he did say, however, was that it was hard work to operate an oil refinery. While his administration will bend over backwards to get oil refinement and distribution back to pre-Katrina levels, it is apparent to many that the delays in on-the-ground assistance are having disastrous effects.

"And we're just starting," Bush said after running down a long list of figures. My question is this, Mr. President: Why are you saying that four days into the disaster? What took you so long? Why are you fiddling while Rome burns?

What hasn't been widely reported today is that yesterday's presidential update began minutes late thanks to the threat of rain. I hope the irony of that fact is lost on nobody.

[BOSSHOG]

1. bush has been a total failure his entire life

and yet he is the type of person who free republic members and rush limbaugh look up to. They wallow in their ignorance and pride.