Looking back at Katrina: Bush's Bullhorn Moment, Pt. 2

[BobcatJH]

Speaking of bullhorn moments, let's look back at President Bush's second crack at immortality, one he's failed at miserably.

What follows are my immediate reactions to President Bush's prime-time speech tonight from New Orleans:

Tonight offered President Bush another crack at the Bullhorn Moment. You'll recall, of course, in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, when Bush visited Ground Zero in New York City. Surrounded by first- and early-responders, the president grabbed a bullhorn and said, "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon."

To rapt applause, Bush had grabbed the spotlight and made a bold pronouncement in a situation befitting strong action. He has, most assuredly, completely bungled things since then. But that was his moment, his chance to show the nation that he had the bona fides, the guts, to lead in a time of crisis.

Tonight, as in the past, Bush had that chance. And, as has been his tradition, he fumbled it completely.

He made sweeping statements that revealed the extent of his administration's ignorance. He made sweeping promises that left many in his own party wondering who would foot the bill. He made sweeping claims about oversight, vigilance and response that are plainly, factually, not true. In short, when America needed a four-star success, its president turned in a two-thumbs-down stinker.

Even the most cursory look at sites like Think Progress reveals the stunning ineptitude, arrogance and negligence on display tonight. Bush thanked those who have helped in the relief, yet he has allowed for their wages to be drastically cut. He promised oversight, yet his administration loves to demote true whistleblowers. He vowed to fight poverty, yet his administration does nothing but perpetuate it.

He called emergency planning a "national security priority" and did so with a straight face, speaking from a city in ruins thanks to said planning's back-burner status. He vowed to listen to state and local officials, yet he failed to do so when he was needed most, then blaming them for his failings. He made statements that sounded like rehashed Iraq speeches, not a bold plan to rebuild the Gulf Coast.

And, above all else, he promised to investigate what happened, to learn from his mistakes, yet his party is unwilling to seek an independent panel as occurred after September 11. His speech was a verbal flyover that offered very little, much like his recent actual flyover only gave him a cursory look at what true movement conservatism has wrought.

And many questions remain: How will his promises be greeted by his tightwad colleagues, who are even more hesitant to open the federal wallet given the fact that those on the receiving end represent a group – a class – that Republicans have long sought to keep down? Will his promises of long-term assistance be anything more than a federally-funded internment of displaced minorities?

Will his claims of responsibility and promises of accountability lead to true consequences or further buck-passing and blame gaming? Will his armies of compassion devolve into an army of private contractors, profiteers and opportunists? Will his promises of oversight lead to more cronyism and the creation of agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, which has delivered on exactly 0 percent of its mandate?

What made tonight's speech different, on the surface, from previous appearances was the lack of a human backdrop. Perhaps Bush was mindful of his repeated use of people – firemen, for instance – as props, but I doubt it's weighing on his conscience. Remember, he just wants to get on with his life.

Instead, Bush's background was the Jackson Square area of the city, where the building's clock in the background displayed – appropriately – the wrong time. The wrong man for the job was giving the wrong speech at the wrong time. But while lighting struck the town hall's clock in "Back to the Future," an even worse disaster befell New Orleans, both natural and – worse – man-made. In its aftermath, Bush has shown himself completely unprepared and unable to govern.

Speaking of Bush's backdrop, it is important to note that while Bush claimed that power was back on around the city, those on the ground longer than the president suggested that it was, in fact, on – thanks, however, to portable generators. Another hollow passage in a speech that left many – on both sides of the aisle – underwhelmed.

As the pundits and elected officials debated the speech's merits in its immediate aftermath, MSNBC cut away to a shot of Air Force One taxiing down an airport tarmac, leaving New Orleans. Promises of on-the-ground assistance had given way to harsh political realities: The president was taking flight, leaving the reconstruction in the hands of Karl Rove and his massing, massive gang of private contractors, bungling federal agencies and politically minded amateurs.

Bush's predecessor, President Clinton, was a master at triangulation, which, in his version of the technique, meant borrowing from both sides of the aisle, often finding a successful "third way." Tonight, Bush tried his hand at the tactic, as he attempted to mix old-fashioned movement conservatism with New Deal progressivism. He tried, and he failed. Miserably.

His handlers crafted a strategy that left conservatives reluctant to blindly endorse such massive spending and that left liberals wanting for more, some substance to his claims. That Bush alienated both parties so thoroughly, so decisively, is a testament to his intellectual incuriosity, leadership deficiencies and political ineptitude.

Tonight, the bullhorn lay silent.