Admission Signals a New Strategy

President Bush regularly passes up invitations to indulge in self-evaluation, happy to leave historians to assess his performance. But having majored in history at Yale (class of ‘68), he also knows that some impressions do not require the passage of time before crystallizing.

On Tuesday, Bush decided it was time to talk about his role in the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said during a brief news conference.

The president’s comments signaled a new White House strategy as Bush and his top aides continued to work to stem the political damage to his leadership after Hurricane Katrina.

As a part of that effort, the president has scheduled a prime-time address to the nation Thursday from New Orleans.

Bush’s statement contrasted with recent White House comments. For days, he and top aides have denigrated most questions about accountability for the hurricane response as part of a partisan “blame game.”

By moving toward shouldering some of the blame, Bush appeared to be trying to shift the debate away from finger-pointing to focus on the reconstruction of New Orleans, a Herculean task that, if it goes smoothly, could help rehabilitate his image.

Throughout his nearly five years in office, Bush and his advisors have showed a determination to never admit a mistake for fear that he would appear weak. That determination held even amid the intense criticism that the administration had severely miscalculated in its assertions that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.

Bush drew a blank when asked at an April 13, 2004, news conference to name his biggest mistake as president.

“You know, I just -- I’m sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer,” he said.

Eventually, he concluded: “I don’t want to sound like I’ve made no mistakes. I’m confident I have. I just haven’t -- you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I’m not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.”

On Tuesday, Bush did not hesitate when a reporter asked: “Given what happened with Katrina, shouldn’t Americans be concerned that their government isn’t prepared to respond to another disaster or even a terrorist attack?”

Bush said: “I want to know how to better cooperate with state and local government, to be able to answer that very question that you asked: ‘Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack or another severe storm?’ And that’s a very important question. And it’s in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on ... so that we can better respond.”

Bush’s comments drew praise from some who had criticized the federal response.

“The president’s comments today will do more to move the country forward from this tragedy than anything that has been said by any leader in the past two weeks,” Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) said. “Accountability at every level is critical, and leadership begins at the top.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Bush’s remarks on Hurricane Katrina

President Bush said he took responsibility for the federal government’s response to Katrina to the extent that it “didn’t fully do its job right.” In earlier comments, he had expressed support for the government’s response. A look at some of the president’s statements:

Aug. 29:

* “Our Gulf Coast is getting hit and hit hard. [The federal government has] assets and resources that we’ll be deploying to help you.”

Aug. 31:

* “We’re assisting local officials in New Orleans in evacuating any remaining citizens from the affected area.”

Sept. 1:

* “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.”

Sept. 2:

* “The results [of U.S. efforts] are not acceptable. I want to assure the people of the affected areas and this country that we’ll deploy the assets necessary to get the situation under control.”

* “I am satisfied with the [federal] response. I’m not satisfied with all the results.... I’m certainly not denigrating the efforts of anybody. But the results can be better in New Orleans, and I intend to work with the folks to make it better.”

* “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job,” referring to Michael D. Brown, then-director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Brown resigned Monday.

Sept. 3:

* “The magnitude of responding to a crisis over a disaster area that is larger than the size of Great Britain has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities.”

Sept. 6:

* “What I intend to do is ... to lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong.”

Monday:

* “The storm didn’t discriminate and neither will the recovery effort. When those Coast Guard choppers -- many of whom were first on the scene -- were pulling people off roofs, they didn’t check the color of a person’s skin.”

* “It is preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there wasn’t enough troops here, just pure and simple.”

Tuesday:

* “Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of govern- ment, and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.”

Source: Los Angeles Times