ohio
08-20-2008, 01:58 PM
Revisiting Katrina
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, August 20, 2008; 12:20 PM
For many Americans, Hurricane Katrina was the final straw. The sheer incompetence of the administration's response to a crisis -- and President's Bush's personal inability to recognize the scope of the suffering -- sent Bush's job-approval rating (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2206/02/02/CU200602021345.html) into a decline from which it has never recovered.
Two weeks after broken levees left New Orleans full of water but empty of people, Bush famously flew in for a theatrical address (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2005/09/15/VI2005091502332.html) from a brightly lit but abandoned Jackson Square, and promised (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050915-8.html) to rebuild the city and the region. "We will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," he said at the time.
Bush returns to New Orleans today, three years later, unable to declare success. Instead, according to the text of his speech released by the White House yesterday, he will repeatedly emphasize "hopeful signs of progress."
There has been progress, of course, but in the view of the residents of New Orleans, not nearly enough.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll (http://kff.org/kaiserpolls/posr081008pkg.cfm) found that "fully half of those living in the parish say they are either dissatisfied (41 percent) or angry (11 percent) with the amount of progress that has been made. . . .
"They feel ignored by policymakers in Washington, underwhelmed by the financial help provided by the federal government, and forgotten by their fellow Americans."
Richard Lardner (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iGV_VjFnAW81p_hQF1REokO6iNfQD92LPQAG0) writes for the Associated Press: "Bush travels to New Orleans and nearby Gulfport, Miss., on Wednesday after appearing at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Orlando, Fla.. . . .
"'There is still a lot of work to do before this city is fully recovered,' Bush says. 'And for people who are still hurting and not yet back in their homes, a brighter day might seem impossible. Yet a brighter day is coming and it is heralded by hopeful signs of progress.'"
But Lardner writes that nothing Bush has done has "erased the image of a leader who failed to react at a critical moment.
"'It's defined him a great deal in the public's mind,' said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
"'That, along with the war in Iraq, are really the pivotal events in his political demise,' Mann said. 'First impressions have ways of becoming lasting ones and certainly that was the case with Katrina.'
"Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said in an interview with The Associated Press that the recovery in New Orleans was far from complete and key projects won't be finished without more federal money.
"'It's not the quantity of the visits; it's the quality of the visits,' Landrieu said of Bush's upcoming stop."
Julie Mason (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5954347.html) writes in the Houston Chronicle: "Bush was on vacation at his Texas retreat when the devastating storm struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. His administration's slow reaction and spotty recovery efforts proved a durable political blight on his presidency. . . .
"[W]ith the Aug. 29 anniversary of Katrina's landfall approaching, regions of the Gulf Coast, and especially parts of New Orleans, are still suffering the effects of the storm. More than 1,800 people were killed, and some $81 billion in property was damaged or destroyed. . . .
"Three years later, 'we see hopeful signs of progress,' Bush will say, according to his speech text. It's a phrase he will repeat seven times in his address, to describe reopened restaurants, improving health care, public education and crime-fighting."
"'I see more cranes in the sky in Austin right now than I do in New Orleans,' said Tracie L. Washington, an attorney and co-director of the Louisiana Justice Institute in New Orleans.
"Washington, whose parents fled the storm in New Orleans and now live in Houston, said her family's old neighborhood of Chantilly has never come back. In her work, Washington said she frequently deals with elderly residents victimized by unscrupulous contractors.
"'I would say this to the president, that I evacuated and went to Beaumont and then to Austin, but I returned home to New Orleans because I believed the promises he made from Jackson Square,' Washington said. 'So far, it still hasn't happened.'"
Jan Moller (http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1219209632111820.xml&coll=1) writes in the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "It will be the president's 13th visit to the New Orleans area since it was devastated by the storm on Aug. 29, 2005, and possibly the last before he turns over the White House to a successor on Jan. 20. . . .
"'The story of your recovery is impressive,' according to an advance copy of Bush's speech made available late Tuesday. 'And it is the same story we see playing out across the Gulf Coast. Homes, businesses and schools are being rebuilt. Levees are being repaired. Families and communities are being reconnected. And from Biloxi to Beaumont, hope is being restored.'
"But five months to the day before his successor will be sworn in, Bush still has several items of unfinished business in a region where many residents remain disappointed with the slow and uneven pace of the recovery."
James Gerstenzang (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/08/katrina-gulf.html) blogs for the Los Angeles Times about why the speech was released a day early: "White House officials want the focus of the day to be the formal remarks Bush is delivering to the veterans and the message he will be sending to Russia about Georgia.
"At the same time, they don't want to suggest that Bush is giving the brush-off to New Orleans and other Gulf Coast regions. . . .
"So, in a step that avoids putting out dueling messages, the White House, which rarely lifts the curtain on Bush speeches, let alone does so 24 hours in advance, took the unusual step of distributing this evening a text of the remarks he is planning to give in New Orleans after the Orlando speech to the VFW.
"It didn't have much to worry about.
"The speech in New Orleans is largely a recitation of the 'a-sunnier-day-is-coming' remarks Bush has delivered in the past along the Gulf Coast. Indeed, he says 'a brighter day is coming,' as he touts progress in restoring education and building housing and proclaims 'hopeful signs of progress in efforts to reduce crime.'"
Gerstenzang appends the full text of the speech to his post.
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, August 20, 2008; 12:20 PM
For many Americans, Hurricane Katrina was the final straw. The sheer incompetence of the administration's response to a crisis -- and President's Bush's personal inability to recognize the scope of the suffering -- sent Bush's job-approval rating (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2206/02/02/CU200602021345.html) into a decline from which it has never recovered.
Two weeks after broken levees left New Orleans full of water but empty of people, Bush famously flew in for a theatrical address (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2005/09/15/VI2005091502332.html) from a brightly lit but abandoned Jackson Square, and promised (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050915-8.html) to rebuild the city and the region. "We will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," he said at the time.
Bush returns to New Orleans today, three years later, unable to declare success. Instead, according to the text of his speech released by the White House yesterday, he will repeatedly emphasize "hopeful signs of progress."
There has been progress, of course, but in the view of the residents of New Orleans, not nearly enough.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll (http://kff.org/kaiserpolls/posr081008pkg.cfm) found that "fully half of those living in the parish say they are either dissatisfied (41 percent) or angry (11 percent) with the amount of progress that has been made. . . .
"They feel ignored by policymakers in Washington, underwhelmed by the financial help provided by the federal government, and forgotten by their fellow Americans."
Richard Lardner (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iGV_VjFnAW81p_hQF1REokO6iNfQD92LPQAG0) writes for the Associated Press: "Bush travels to New Orleans and nearby Gulfport, Miss., on Wednesday after appearing at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Orlando, Fla.. . . .
"'There is still a lot of work to do before this city is fully recovered,' Bush says. 'And for people who are still hurting and not yet back in their homes, a brighter day might seem impossible. Yet a brighter day is coming and it is heralded by hopeful signs of progress.'"
But Lardner writes that nothing Bush has done has "erased the image of a leader who failed to react at a critical moment.
"'It's defined him a great deal in the public's mind,' said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
"'That, along with the war in Iraq, are really the pivotal events in his political demise,' Mann said. 'First impressions have ways of becoming lasting ones and certainly that was the case with Katrina.'
"Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said in an interview with The Associated Press that the recovery in New Orleans was far from complete and key projects won't be finished without more federal money.
"'It's not the quantity of the visits; it's the quality of the visits,' Landrieu said of Bush's upcoming stop."
Julie Mason (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5954347.html) writes in the Houston Chronicle: "Bush was on vacation at his Texas retreat when the devastating storm struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. His administration's slow reaction and spotty recovery efforts proved a durable political blight on his presidency. . . .
"[W]ith the Aug. 29 anniversary of Katrina's landfall approaching, regions of the Gulf Coast, and especially parts of New Orleans, are still suffering the effects of the storm. More than 1,800 people were killed, and some $81 billion in property was damaged or destroyed. . . .
"Three years later, 'we see hopeful signs of progress,' Bush will say, according to his speech text. It's a phrase he will repeat seven times in his address, to describe reopened restaurants, improving health care, public education and crime-fighting."
"'I see more cranes in the sky in Austin right now than I do in New Orleans,' said Tracie L. Washington, an attorney and co-director of the Louisiana Justice Institute in New Orleans.
"Washington, whose parents fled the storm in New Orleans and now live in Houston, said her family's old neighborhood of Chantilly has never come back. In her work, Washington said she frequently deals with elderly residents victimized by unscrupulous contractors.
"'I would say this to the president, that I evacuated and went to Beaumont and then to Austin, but I returned home to New Orleans because I believed the promises he made from Jackson Square,' Washington said. 'So far, it still hasn't happened.'"
Jan Moller (http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1219209632111820.xml&coll=1) writes in the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "It will be the president's 13th visit to the New Orleans area since it was devastated by the storm on Aug. 29, 2005, and possibly the last before he turns over the White House to a successor on Jan. 20. . . .
"'The story of your recovery is impressive,' according to an advance copy of Bush's speech made available late Tuesday. 'And it is the same story we see playing out across the Gulf Coast. Homes, businesses and schools are being rebuilt. Levees are being repaired. Families and communities are being reconnected. And from Biloxi to Beaumont, hope is being restored.'
"But five months to the day before his successor will be sworn in, Bush still has several items of unfinished business in a region where many residents remain disappointed with the slow and uneven pace of the recovery."
James Gerstenzang (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/08/katrina-gulf.html) blogs for the Los Angeles Times about why the speech was released a day early: "White House officials want the focus of the day to be the formal remarks Bush is delivering to the veterans and the message he will be sending to Russia about Georgia.
"At the same time, they don't want to suggest that Bush is giving the brush-off to New Orleans and other Gulf Coast regions. . . .
"So, in a step that avoids putting out dueling messages, the White House, which rarely lifts the curtain on Bush speeches, let alone does so 24 hours in advance, took the unusual step of distributing this evening a text of the remarks he is planning to give in New Orleans after the Orlando speech to the VFW.
"It didn't have much to worry about.
"The speech in New Orleans is largely a recitation of the 'a-sunnier-day-is-coming' remarks Bush has delivered in the past along the Gulf Coast. Indeed, he says 'a brighter day is coming,' as he touts progress in restoring education and building housing and proclaims 'hopeful signs of progress in efforts to reduce crime.'"
Gerstenzang appends the full text of the speech to his post.