Living Too Much in the Bubble?......TIME

[RedEarth]

Living Too Much in the Bubble?
A bungled initial response to Katrina exposed the perils of a rigid, insular White House. Inside Bush's plan to show he isn't isolated
By MIKE ALLEN / WASHINGTON

President Bush was seated in the White House Situation Room, watching military and disaster officials beaming in from the Gulf Coast on the giant screen of his secure video- teleconferencing system. It had been nearly a week since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, ripping gashes in the Superdome and swamping homes up to their eaves. Bush, more fidgety than usual, was hearing a jumble of conflicting reports about the number of refugees in the Convention Center and the whereabouts of two trucks and trailers loaded with water and food. Furious, he interrupted and glared at the camera transmitting his image back to Mississippi. "I know y'all are trying as hard as you can, but it ain't cuttin' it," the Commander in Chief barked. "I wanna know why. We gotta do better."

This was not so much a moment of executive command as one that betrayed Bush's growing sense that his presidency was taking a beating too. A TIME poll conducted last week shows how badly it has been wounded: his overall approval rating has dropped to 42%, his lowest mark since taking office. And while 36% of respondents said they were satisfied with his explanation of why the government was not able to provide relief to hurricane victims sooner, 57% said they were dissatisfied--an ominous result for a politician who banks on his image as a straight shooter.

Longtime Bush watchers say they are not shocked that he missed his moment--one of his most trusted confidants calls him "a better third- and fourth-quarter player," who focuses and delivers when he sees the stakes. What surprised them was that he still appeared to be stutter-stepping in the second week of the crisis, struggling to make up for past lapses instead of taking control with a grand gesture. Just as Katrina exposed the lurking problems of race and poverty, it also revealed the limitations of Bush's rigid, top-down approach to the presidency. "The extremely highly centralized control of the government--the engine of Bush's success--failed him this time," a key adviser said.

The missteps on Katrina came at a crucial moment in Bush's second term, when his top legislative priority at home, Social Security reform, was already on life support and the war in Iraq was becoming a mounting economic and political burden. The Administration that had been determined to defy history and ward off the second-term curse--and early lame-duck status--by controlling the agenda and seizing opportunities appears increasingly at the mercy of events, at home and abroad.

And as if the West Wing were suddenly snakebit, his franchise player, senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, was on the disabled list for part of last week, working from home after being briefly hospitalized with painful kidney stones

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1103581,00.html

[Iris]

1. "who focuses and delivers when he sees the stakes"

yeah, right. And the lives of poor people aren't really all that big of states in this day and age.

[phantom power]

2. At least he got the first part right.

Anybody who pays attention to Bush wasn't surprised he missed the moment :evilgrin:

[blm]

3. I defy the press to repeat ONE thing Bush said that was STRAIGHT SHOOTING

and honest, and what you see is what you get.....I DARE THEM.

He uses weasel words about EVERYTHING.

[flordehinojos]

4. wait a minute, wasn't CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT key to the

soviet union hold on people--and isn't that a key component of castro's hold on people..... why they hell aren't people seeing what bush is doing... because according to the article you've posted here,

"Katrina ....revealed the limitations of Bush's rigid, top-down approach to the presidency. "The extremely highly centralized control of the government--the engine of Bush's success--failed him this time," a key adviser said."

and, o, i did not read the rest of the article which is entitled TOO MUCH TIME IN THE BUBBLE, i think...obviously referring to bush.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. They have no idea how to handle this

GOP ideology is totally locked on the idea that "Big Government" is evil. So when a problem comes along that can only be handled by massive government involvement, they're worthless and clueless.

[renate]

6. Substitute Kim Jong Il for Bush here and it's just as believable

"A related factor, aides and outside allies concede, is what many of them see as the President's increasing isolation. Bush's bubble has grown more hermetic in the second term, they say, with fewer people willing or able to bring him bad news--or tell him when he's wrong."

:scared:

[malaise]

7. Kidney stones ..hmmmmmmmmmm

Karl Rove, was on the disabled list for part of last week, working from home after being briefly hospitalized with painful kidney stones.

Please, please - no I won't say what I'm thinking.

[TomInTib]

9. I've had kidney stones and they are excruciatingly painful...always

said that I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy, but I find myself curiously at peace with KKKarl's little affliction.

[ixion]

8. I call BS.

They weren't doing ANYTHING except TURNING RESCUERS AWAY and NOT LETTING PEOPLE EVAC.

That's all they did.

They sat there waiting for a helicopter before the levee broke. A helicopter that was diverted, instead, to a church.

It's criminal negligence, nothing more, IMO.

[Peachhead22]

10. I agree...

...the Time piece doesn't ring true to me. It's much too sympathetic to Bush and tries to blame other for "letting Shrub down'. The Newsweek piece directly contradicts the Time piece. The Newsweek piece said his aides almost had to draw straws to be the one who advised him to cut his vacation short. The Time piece says he spontaneously blurted out "I'm going back".

After days posing with cakes, guitars and giving Medicare speeches he spontaneously decides to (finally) to be decisive. To do the right thing? Yeah, right.

[Zensea]

11. There is something very slippery in this article

I can't quite put my finger on it, but despite the fact that it lists all of the mess-ups, I kept getting the feeling I was reading a p.r. puff piece fed to Time by the Republicans.

It's connected to this language at the beginning of the article.
""I know y'all are trying as hard as you can, but it ain't cuttin' it," the Commander in Chief barked. "I wanna know why. We gotta do better."

[pretzel4gore]

12. time magazine= racist

they got caught once doctoring oj simpson's pic on their front cover to make him look evil, during clinton era....lol, they were forced to apologise (and simpson has never had to work again thank you kindly timemag!)
now if these pigs howled at bush, denouncing him, one might think there was a degree of 'solemn concern' in the man's actions, but if time mag says something, the opposite is with 100% certainty, the truth....

[Skittles]

13. stolen elections are the key to bush's "sucess"

not any "extremely hightly centralzied control of the government" - to much of this article smells like real BS