Bush battles to regain control

By Michael Gawenda
Washington
September 6, 2005

DESPERATE to show that he is taking control of the devastating aftermath of hurricane Katrina, President George Bush sent the most trusted members of his Administration to the stricken south as part of a "tidal wave of compassion".

Mr Bush, having rewritten his schedule for September and cancelled a long-planned meeting this week with China's President Hu Jintao, was due to travel back to Louisiana and Mississippi overnight.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew to New Orleans where he met National Guard and army chiefs co-ordinating the relief effort, but apparently not any of the survivors.

Mr Rumsfeld, not known for his ability to empathise with suffering or ordinary people, repeated the Administration's line that the hurricane damage could not be predicted.

"As the President said, it is a natural disaster of historic proportions," he said. "It is important to keep the magnitude of it in mind."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to her home state of Alabama and toured devastated areas before returning to Washington to defend President Bush from charges by some black leaders, including Jesse Jackson, that the Administration's slow response to the disaster was because most victims were black.

"How can that be the case?" she said. "Americans don't want to see Americans suffer. Nobody, especially the President, would have left people unattended because of race."

During a visit to the Red Cross Centre in Washington, President Bush said: "The world saw this tidal wave of disaster and now they're going to see a tidal wave of compassion."

But for the Administration, and for President Bush in particular, the question is whether the political damage caused by days of tardiness, of shambolic rescue efforts, of failure to appreciate the extent of the tragedy in Louisiana and Mississippi, can be undone, whatever action is taken now.

Criticism of President Bush has been muted among senior Republicans, but their silence has spoken volumes. Senate majority leader Bill Frist, a leading heart surgeon, has been working with medical teams in New Orleans.

Senator Frist has made it clear that as soon as possible, the Senate will convene a special committee to examine what went wrong with the rescue efforts and who was responsible.

The Administration is unlikely to emerge unscathed — and all this will take place against the backdrop of thousands of bodies being retrieved from New Orleans as the floodwater recedes.

A weekend ABC news poll found that 46 per cent of Americans approved of how President Bush had handled the hurricane crisis. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 91 per cent approved of his leadership.

Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana summed up the feelings of many in Congress when she said she was angry at Washington's failures and second-guessing of state authorities. If she heard more talk from the Administration that the disaster could not be foreseen, she said, she would "punch someone".

One of the key issues the Senate will investigate is why the Homeland Security Department, which has spent four years planning for responses to a terrorist attack and a major natural disaster, was so unprepared for hurricane Katrina's massive impact.

The department has struggled to co-ordinate federal rescue efforts and has frequently failed to communicate promptly with emergency workers.

Communication systems proved inadequate and there appeared to be no plan to deal quickly with widespread lawlessness and looting — this despite the billions of dollars spent setting up the department and funding its agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has come in for particularly harsh criticism.

For most observers, the question now is not whether President Bush will be damaged by his Administration's handling of the hurricane Katrina disaster, but rather, just how severe and lasting that damage will be.

Already with his approval rating at its lowest level — with most Americans saying he is leading the country in the wrong direction and with more than 65 per cent saying the Iraq war was a mistake — President Bush is in danger of being seen as a lame duck president unable to get Congress, including Republicans, to back his ambitious domestic agenda or secure victory in Iraq.

There is talk among Republicans that tax cuts and plans to abolish wealth taxes should be shelved for the time being. A weakened President Bush is likely to encounter serious challenges to whomever he nominates to replace Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died on Saturday.

And with an eye to congressional elections next year, some Republicans may start to raise doubts about further funding for operations in Iraq unless the Administration comes up with an exit strategy.

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