The American Prospect
by Terence Samuel

09/23/05)

Now that he's patched up his silent feud with the Democratic governor of Louisiana, George W. Bush is spending so much time in the Pelican State it looks like he's running against her. It's all part of his effort to convince Americans that he does know a disaster when he sees one. But with his waterlogged approval ratings sinking fast, his longtime detractors are wondering what took people so long to see what they have always known about Bush's failures on the economy, in Iraq, and in his views about the role of the federal government. Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster and consultant, says Hurricane Katrina accelerated a slippage in the president's numbers that was well under way before the storm hit. In addition, it made him more susceptible to some of the charges that had been leveled against him during the 2004 presidential election, chiefly that the country was more prepared for a disaster at home than it was back on September 11...

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=10349


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp