So, Bush just held a press conference in Austin. In theory, it was to address the rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Rita, but in fact, it turned out to be little more than a photo op with Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Tom DeLay, and other folks of dubious distinction.
I’m not saying that the press conference was a sham. I’m sure that somewhere deep down, Bush really does feel sorry for storm victims. I’m sure, however, that he’s equally sorry to see his public approval ratings hit the skids in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Still, if I were Bush’s publicist–and thank goddess I’m not–I might have cautioned him against appearing in an official capacity quite so soon. See, if I remember right, it was three days after Katrina before GW bothered to cut short his vacation for a fly-by of the Gulf Coast–in a jet plane, no less. (It was four days before he saw the area at closer range, by helicopter.) For Rita, though, Bush has set up camp in one of the affected states less than 12 hours after the storm made landfall. That leaves poor Georgie open to a number of critiques–all of which will soon follow, I’m sure:
- Bush cares more about his home state than about his troublesome, eccentric neighbor to the east.
- Bush cares more about the largely white, relatively affluent population of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana than the predominantly African American, relatively poor population of New Orleans (a critique that overlooks Houston’s HUGE African American and Hispanic populations, but whatever).
- Bush cares more about shoring up support for his public policies than actually protecting and caring for the citizenry.
And sad to say, I think there’s a bit of truth behind some of those comments. ‘Cause while it’d be nice to believe that the press briefing was held to express hope for the rebuilding of damaged areas, it was pretty apparent Bush is even more anxious to rebuild his numbers at the polls. Not a great move, if you ask me.
But of course, you didn’t.
Update: Brian Williams has never been my favorite journalist, but he shares an interesting story about the various motivations behind another president’s response to a major hurricane in New Orleans.
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