Why Katrina Is Likely to Be a Disaster for President Bush, too

From Gloucester, Massachusetts, there seems no better phrase than a perfect storm to describe the political weather brewing for President Bush. This morning’s New York Times has a damning editorial and a sobering front-page story by David Sanger about the difficulties facing the White House. That is only the beginning of what will now be an extended period of national soul-searching about how we tragically let down the people of New Orleans in August 2005.

Disasters are nearly always bad for presidents, whether considered their fault or not. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 added to the sense that George H.W. Bush was distracted by foreign policy. The near-meltdown at Three Mile Island contributed in some intangible way to the malaise the United States felt under Jimmy Carter. And even before the full extent of Watergate corruption became known to the world, the fuel crisis of the early 70s added to the feeling that Richard Nixon’s America was running out of gas. All of these crises will pale before the disaster at hand, which combines elements of all three: complete destruction plus existential terror plus a sense that the energy we depend on will no longer be there in the future.

But on top of that, there is mounting evidence, both circumstantial and real, that this disaster can be laid at the doorstep of the Bush White House. A feeling hangs heavy in the air – like the quiet before a hurricane – that the catastrophe symbolizes a presidency profoundly out of touch with reality. It’s not just the basic fact, visible on all TV screens, that the victims of this tragedy are poor and black – the precise demographic that has fared the worst under George W. Bush, ever since its votes were undercounted in Florida. Or that President Bush was on one of his long vacations when the storm hit. Or that he did nothing the first full day of the tragedy. . . .

There are so many articles to read about New Orleans that it is disorienting, but one stayed with me, posted on the Times’ website at 6:51 yesterday. It described President Bush’s eerie journey on Air Force One from Crawford to Washington, while swooping over the devastation at very low altitude, like a gigantic sea gull. The article began with a nervous non sequitur – as if anyone had even asked the question – stating that Bush’s long stay in Crawford had been a “working vacation.” An obvious quote followed from his press secretary, Scott McLellan: “It’s devastating. It’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground.” Twice as devastating as what? The cabin of Air Force One? Then it continued with McClellan’s grandiloquent announcement that the federal government, after a day and a half of dithering, had determined this to be an “incident of national significance.” One wonders what the thousands of people stranded without homes and loved ones thought as they saw the enormous presidential aircraft flying in circles, just over their heads, before accelerating away from the unpleasant view. Their voices, as usual, were silent.