"It's an ill wind that blows no good for Bush"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1761274,00.html

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But other accusations have more power to damage him. The charge that he has sent so many troops to Iraq that he has left the US unable to cope with natural disasters strikes at a very vulnerable point — the growing distaste of many Americans for the Iraq war.

The second is that he has mismanaged US energy interests. If there is one business that Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney are supposed to understand, it is oil.

Soaring petrol prices have led to petrol shortages across the southeast of the US. Bush’s move in releasing some of the national reserves — which are crude oil, not refined — will have little effect on petrol prices and may seem only a gesture. Nor does the mammoth Energy Bill he signed into law last month directly address the vulnerabilities exposed by Katrina.

He will be judged by how he responds to those charges. But above all, he will be judged by whether he manages to haul New Orleans back from the dead.

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