Katrina: One Year Later

The anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is upon us, and it will be hard to avoid the many stories and documentaries on the disaster, most of which will not be kind to our president. The Washington Post has this story on the lasting damage to Bush's image as a strong leader:

For Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), three images define George W. Bush's presidency: Bush throwing out the first pitch of the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium, Bush with a megaphone atop the rubble of the World Trade Center -- and Bush staring out the window as Air Force One traversed the Gulf Coast thousands of feet above the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
The first two images epitomize strength and resolution, the image the Bush White House likes to cultivate. But in one year's time, the last one -- of the president as aloof, out of touch, even befuddled -- all but erased the memory of the others, according to pollsters, pundits and Republican politicians who say they have suffered in the wake of the president's decline.

The disaster was more than a failure of arranging the right photo op. Bush himself added to the impression of being out of touch with these memorable excuses:

1. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."
2. "There was no situational awareness, and that means that we weren't getting good, solid information from people who were on the ground, and we need to do a better job."

This failure of situational awareness became, after the fact, a metaphor for the multiple failure of Bush's tenure in the White House.

Photo: James Nielsen/Reuters