http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060828/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bushWASHINGTON - President Bush marks the anniversary of the hurricane that still haunts his presidency with worries a new tropical storm could bring the first test of his promise that the botched post-Katrina response will not be repeated.
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Regardless, with Bush's image as a leader still tarnished by the halting federal response to Katrina, the president wants to make clear that he has been fully engaged in planning for Ernesto as he vacationed over the weekend at his family's summer home on the Maine coast. Aides noted he was briefed regularly and said White House representatives were coordinating with emergency management officials.
A poll earlier this month found two-thirds of Americans still disapprove of the president's handling of Katrina. Democrats are converging on the Gulf along with Bush, intending to make the case that the president and his Republican Party should be held accountable for failing storm victims — not just at first, but still.
Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said Bush's promises of help for Katrina victims and changes to the federal response effort remain largely unfulfilled. He called Bush's trip nothing more than a public relations offensive designed to paper over failures.