Posted on 12/29/2008 8:54:24 PM PST by marshmallow
WASHINGTON – Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.
"Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. "The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. P.R.? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter."
Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: "Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin."
Their comments are a part of an oral history of the Bush White House that Vanity Fair magazine compiled for its February issue, which hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, and nationally on Jan. 6. Vanity Fair published comments by current and former government officials, foreign ministers, campaign strategists and numerous others on topics that included Iraq, the anthrax attacks, the economy and immigration.
Lawrence Wilkerson, top aide and later chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said that as a new president, Bush was like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee whom critics said lacked knowledge about foreign affairs. When Bush first came into office, he was surrounded by experienced advisers like Vice President Dick Cheney and Powell, who Wilkerson said ended up playing damage control for the president.
"It allowed everybody to believe that this Sarah Palin-like president — because, let's face it, that's what he was — was going to be protected....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I respectfully disagree. Vehemently... It WAS Bush's fault... At NO point did he assign blame where it was deserved...
The entire Bush years can be summarized in this way...
1. Bush gets blamed for everything that goes
2. Bush says nothing in return... Doesn't challenge it. Cheney hides for cover. Other GOP leaders dissapear, including Frist.
3. Media picks up on the Dems lies and promotes them
4. The public believes these outrageous lies... After all, if they're repeated over and over, without being challenged, they must be accurate, right?
5. Repeat step 1... Until conservatives are viewed as evil, belicose monsters that don't care about the poor, and want tax cuts for the rich... Until they destroy the GOP party... Until anyone that dares to fight back- like DeLay, are pounded by the MSM, into submission...
Did I get that right?
BINGO. I’ve been beating that drum for years. YEARS
The bottom line is that Bush was very poor at defending himself, he let the media define him. Fairly or unfairly, that’s just the way it is.
In politics, EVERYBODY is a no-talent, turncoat clown.
Looking to '12... McCain is gone for good... Romney may be too old... Rudy is pretty much done... FDT is kaput... Palin has been "Newt-ralized" by the MSM and SNL... Not looking all that good right now, IMHO.
You MUST be joking... or delusional... Hasn't this election cycle taught you ANYTHING??? The MSM will hail all of his accomplishments... Even if they fail... He will be viewed as a great leader, and will easily coast to a 2nd term...
Exactly... When the Dems and Libs defined him, and the MSM reinforced it... and there was NO effective counter-attack.... The American people defined him as well... Hence, the 27% approval rating, and President H.
Bureaucrats?
Bush’s biggest failure was his reluctance to fight back against the RAT propaganda machine.
Yes, I know. Sad isn’t it
His most likely worst mistakes will be from inaction.
Past behavior is a very good indicator of future behavior. Barack Obama has a history of doing nothing when the chips are down.
Someone with no executive experience at any level will be paralyzed by the fear of doing the wrong thing. This man has never run a hotdog stand and it's not going to go unnoticed when he's got the most powerful executive job on Earth.
A decision maker of considerable experience can take conflicting advice from a variety of experienced people and then make a bold and decisive choice.
This man is a fraud and has no experience or history in making very difficult decisions which can affect not just the fate of the American people but the fate of the entire world.
Most of the soldiers in the U.S. military have no confidence in this man as Commander-in-Chief, and for good reason.
The media cannot cover for that kind of defective leadership.
You seem to give the media more credit for its massive power than it deserves. The entire newspaper business is in near collapse and TV ratings stink to high heaven.
The election has taught me the majority can be fooled during a campaign but being in power is a completely different problem.
The expectations for this jackass are so ridiculous, he can never meet them.
This man has seriously embraced failed economic theory his entire adult life which is an excellent indicator that A) He doesn't know how the real world works and B) He can't possibly be a success implementing what has been proven for a century not to work.
Further, he lied during his campaign as to his true intentions and his own personal history which is why nobody knows anything about him and even his supporters are holding their breath and crossing their fingers.
Just because a bunch of dumb-ass voters were fooled doesn't mean the man can deliver the Utopia he promises.
BINGO...
So what does this say for Obama who has less foreign policy experience than both Bush and Palin?
Please. Spare me... The MSM elected H. Plain and simple. They covered for him 24x7. They shape public perception... Whether it's 10 second news soundbites, newspaper headlines, consistent use of talking points on nearly all of the channels...
The MSM is more powerful today than ever in my lifetime, if only because they're more emboldened and brazen in their leftist support.
For 47 years, he has not had to make a decision that affects other peoples' lives, except for his family. In three weeks, he will be "The Decider" on decisions that put people in harm's way, and affect the security of our nation. Let us not forget that he never held any meetings in his subcommittee, as he spent over half of his Senatorial tenure on the campaign trail.
Thankfully, my years in the Army involved no combat. However, there were times when a situation could get very dicey if the wrong decision was made, such as directing a reserve force in exercises at a nuclear weapons site. I always selected the gunners of my Towed Vulcans, as I didn't want any mistakes with live 30mm rounds loaded to the breech. My other soldiers were air defenders, also with armed with live ammunition, who were forced into a distinctly unfamiliar role as infantrymen for several hours.
Thankfully, I spent four years at a school with an excellent ROTC program, and had hundreds of hours of small unit training, to include annual Spring Break camps at Fort Lewis. About half of my class eventually earned their jump wings, and a third wore Ranger tabs.
I apologize for digressing. I learned a great deal about leadership and decision making as a Platoon Leader, Battalion S-4, and Battery Commander. My future wife told me I aged at least 5 years during my 18 months as a BC. My response: only five? As much as I loved that job, it felt like ten. I can't begin to imagine what our Presidents go through on a daily basis.
This nation will rediscover what a bad, bad idea it is to elect a Senator to POTUS. Obama can no longer vote "present", or try to pass the buck. With every decision, he's going to anger one (or more) of his constituencies. Running a campaign is hardly sufficient experience for taking on the toughest job in the world.
Along the way, the new First Lady will not be able to bite her tongue, and she'll create firestorms of her own.
Obama fatigue will be in full force by June.
If we really want to get accurate FEMA should never have been placed inside Homeland Security... and IMHO all that was accomplished with forming HLS was to create another level of bureaucracy and inefficiency and larger government.
-Ex POWELL aides quote to VF mag
-AP Yahoo make it a news story.
I am not defending Bush but it is so obvious the AP/politico yahoo pimp for Obama, that they will do anything to show their bias and bash Buah.
Meanwhile the credit/ financial crisis continues.Things are heating up in Israel and obama golfs and whines about his privacy while his corruption of Chicago politics reigns with him looking like a messiah.
-Ex POWELL aides quote to VF mag
-AP Yahoo make it a news story.
I am not defending Bush but it is so obvious the AP/politico yahoo pimp for Obama, that they will do anything to show their bias and bash Bush.
Meanwhile the credit/ financial crisis continues.Things are heating up in Israel and obama golfs and whines about his privacy while his corruption of Chicago politics reigns with him looking like a messiah.
I just found the two posts you referred to and it seems we are in agreement.
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