George W. Bush in the Eye of a Hurricane

"The presumptive presidential nominee told RNC-goers that the convention agenda would be reduced to only most essential party business as Hurricane Gustav neared the Gulf Coast. "We take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats," McCain told his fellow Republicans in the video. As the RNC turned its attention to Hurricane Gustav, the Washington Post reporter Dan Balz wrote that, for many Americans, "the hurricane in question is still called Katrina.""

"Even Bush acknowledged his Katrina response left his presidency beyond recovery. In his presidential memoir Decision Points, Bush confessed that Katrina "cast a cloud over my second term"-a metaphor as unfortunate as the administration's response, yet quintessentially Bushian. Top members of President Bush's staff agreed, but chose to shy away from atmospheric figures of speech. "It left an indelible stain on his presidency," wrote Scott McClellan, Bush's White House press secretary, in his postmortem of the Bush presidency, What Happened."

"A presidency can withstand incompetence or failed messaging strategies, but they rarely survive both. The mismanagement and poor messaging that doomed Bush's presidency were nowhere more apparent than in the response to Katrina. Throughout the crisis, the Bush administration lacked the initiative and ingenuity to boldly assert the president's powers under federal statutes and Constitutional principles. Its cowardice bled over into communications, where strategies from Bush's inner circle damaged the president's image almost as much as his own words and actions."

Senator John McCain reduced the Republican National Convention agenda as Hurricane Gustav neared the Gulf Coast and urged Americans to "put on American hats." Many Americans still associated the new storm response with Katrina. President Bush acknowledged that Katrina cast a cloud over his second term and that the administration's response left an indelible stain on his presidency. The combination of mismanagement and poor messaging during Katrina undermined presidential authority and public confidence. The administration failed to assert necessary federal powers, displayed cowardice in communications, and proved unwilling or unable to minimize human tragedy.

Read at The American Conservative