President Hurls Himself Into Disaster Relief

The White House strove to make clear Monday that the devastation Hurricane Andrew caused in Florida was one domestic problem in which President Bush was fully engaged and the President himself said he would head back to the stricken region and to storm-damaged Louisiana for a follow-up look today.

The President, who began the campaign year sharply criticized for appearing aloof from the economic problems besetting the nation, worked his way through a schedule Monday brimming with back-to-back meetings with representatives of virtually every federal agency playing a role in disaster relief.

For example, he looked into whether Social Security checks could be delivered; whether sufficient plywood would be available for repair work; what sorts of problems the Salvation Army was having and whether the insurance industry would be able to cope.

“We need to follow up with our agencies and departments in every way that we possibly can to assist the victims of this storm,” Bush said in a picture-taking session at the start of a meeting with Cabinet and other high officials.

The intense political climate of this stage of the presidential campaign means not only that Bush wants to make sure that he does the right thing but that he sometimes wants to be showcased doing it in the most obvious and exaggerated fashion.

Earlier, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that the Administration was “quite sympathetic” to requests from state and local authorities in Florida that they be exempted from federal regulations requiring them to match federal grants with a specific contribution of their own government funds.