Storm brews around Bush leadership

President Bush surveys the damage from Air Force One. Picture / Reuters

President George W. Bush is facing not only the fallout of Hurricane Katrina but also an intense political storm as relief experts, government officials and newspaper editorials criticise everything from disaster preparedness policies to his public entry into the growing crisis on the Gulf Coast.

The New York Times said of a speech he made on Wednesday: "Nothing about the President's demeanour yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis."

Flanked by his Cabinet on the White House lawn, Bush had said: "This is going to be a difficult road. The challenges we face on the ground are unprecedented. But there's no doubt in my mind that we're going to succeed.

"Right now, the days seem awfully dark for those affected. But I'm confident that, with time, you'll get your life back in order. New communities will flourish. The great city of New Orleans will be back on its feet. And America will be a stronger place for it."

No less trenchant - and more heartfelt - in its criticism was the Biloxi Sun Herald in Mississippi, which surveyed the disaster around its offices and asked: "Why hasn't every able-bodied member of the armed forces in South Mississippi been pressed into service?"

Bush was on holiday at his Texas ranch when the Asian tsunami struck last year and was soon in the firing line for reacting slowly. This week he faced the same criticism - he spent Monday on a fund-raising tour of the American west, and was accused of failing to provide adequate leadership.

As survivors complained of a lack of water, food and medical supplies, fingers from across the political spectrum were pointed at the White House. Experts on the Mississippi Delta quickly pointed out that a plan to shore up the levees around New Orleans was abandoned last year for lack of Government funding.

They said flood-control spending for southeastern Louisiana had been chopped every year that Bush had been in office, hurricane protection funds had also fallen, and the budget for the local Army corps of engineers had been cut.

"It appears that the money has been moved in the President's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay," the emergency management chief for Jefferson parish told the Times-Picayune newspaper.

The torrent of criticism contrasted sharply to the reaction to the September 11 attacks, when political sniping was put on hold and dissenters were told their complaints were both unwelcome and unpatriotic.

The change in tone partly suggests a growing disenchantment with Bush. The usually restrained New York Times said: "Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?"

The widespread destruction on the Gulf Coast and the havoc visited on petrol prices are bringing new questions about Bush's leadership and priorities, particularly his decisions to push for big tax cuts and pour billions of dollars into an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq.

"This is a supreme test of Bush's leadership at a time when resources are thin and his approval ratings are perilously low," pollster John Zogby said.

THE hurricane's aftermath also could be more bad news for Republicans already worried about the political fallout in next year's congressional elections from the war. Republicans counting on domestic issues to trump Iraq in the minds of voters could find little solace.

"The US economy in the hurricane's aftermath is going to be a lot more important to a lot more voters than Iraq, no matter how well or poorly it's going over there," said California-based Republican consultant Dan Schnur.

"If the situation in Iraq has not improved, and if the hurricane causes an economic downturn, then Republican candidates have something to worry about."

The New York Times, in its editorial on Thursday, called Bush's statement after the hurricane "one of the worst speeches of his life".

Bush labelled Katrina a temporary setback for the economy and asked former Presidents George Bush, his father, and Bill Clinton to head a drive for disaster relief similar to the one they conducted after the Asian tsunami.

Some Democrats were also quick to attack Bush for a feeble and late response, and draw links between the Administration's focus on Iraq while domestic priorities such as flood prevention were starved for funds.

"We are watching this devastation unfold on our televisions for days and you have to ask: where is the federal government?" Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey said. "We should have had a significant amount of troops and supplies there on the ground Monday."

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, noting petrol prices were rocketing, said everyday Americans had made sacrifices while Bush's "pals in big oil" reaped record profits.

"While he's asking ordinary Americans to do more, he ought to show some real leadership and call on his friends in big oil to join in the sacrifice and stop gouging American families at the gas pump," Dean said.

Bush brushed off the charges and said this was no time for politics. "What we need to do as a nation is come together to solve the problem and not play politics, and there will be ample time for politics," he said in an ABC television interview.

He was planning a visit to the devastated hurricane region today. Earlier this week he flew low over the devastation in Air Force One on his way to Washington.

"The President is going to have to do a lot more than a 25-minute flyover," Zogby said.

The conservative New Hampshire Union Leader also blasted the President. "The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following September 11, 2001, has vanished," the paper said. "In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty."

Four years ago America's commander-in-chief stood in the rubble of the World Trade Centre and delivered the speech of his life, addressing rescue workers through a loudhailer. His rousing address, known by some of his supporters as his "bull horn moment", inspired the nation - and reignited his presidency - in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

Bush's aides see crisis-management as his forte. He may sometimes garble his lines over policy, they say, but as a self-styled CEO president he is ideally suited to lead America's biggest domestic relief mission.

In a debate with Vice-President Al Gore, his rival in the presidential campaign of 2000, Bush commented that "natural catastrophes were a time to test your mettle". But he now appears uncertain whether to adopt his trademark ebullient style or a more understated approach.

In one silver lining for the White House, Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war movement's icon who has camped outside his Texas ranch, has for the moment disappeared from the front pages.

Today comes Bush's best opportunity to convince the nation that he has the situation in hand when he tours Mobile, one of the towns worst-hit by Hurricane Katrina, before flying over New Orleans.

His advisers have to hope that it will allow the stop-start impression of the past few days to be forgotten. But they will be acutely aware that if he fails this test, watchers will be far less forgiving of this second-term veteran than they were of the 2001 ingenu.

- Additional reporting by Agencies