NBC Analysis: Bush admin trying to tie Hurricane Katrina to September 11

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Mon Sep-12-05 02:44 PM
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NBC Analysis: Bush admin trying to tie Hurricane Katrina to September 11

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4954685/detail.html

White House Tries To Boost Perceptions
"First Read" is a daily memo prepared by NBC News' political unit, for NBC News, analyzing the morning's political news.

First Glance

With a schedule that kicked off last Friday, the White House appears to be taking a two-pronged approach to boost itself out of this latest and most serious political funk yet: 1) by tying together Hurricane Katrina, September 11, and the greater war against terror, and 2) by reaffirming President Bush's world-leader credentials. Having observed the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in various ways from Friday through yesterday, Bush visits New Orleans and Gulfport, MS today, then meets with the Iraqi president tomorrow before heading to the United Nations, where he addresses the General Assembly on Wednesday morning.

Regarding 1), the question is whether the opposite is happening -- whether Bush and his Administration's perceived slow response to Katrina is infecting public's view of the war in Iraq, the war against terror, and the Administration's ability to handle a crisis. Senate and House committee begin hearings this week into what happened with the response. Polls released by Time and Newsweek both show Bush with his lowest approval rating yet in those surveys. One of your co-authors traveled to battleground Ohio this weekend to see the Texas Longhorns beat Ohio State and, still reveling in the win on Sunday, came across a Columbus Dispatch poll showing that Bush's approval rating in the Columbus area has sunk to 41 percent. Support for his handling of Iraq has declined to 37 percent, though this may be due more to Ohio's recent heavy casualties there.

And regarding 2), Bush heads to the UN amidst international media coverage suggesting that some foreign leaders may view him as the politically diminished leader of a country that, despite Bush's insistence to the contrary, cannot take care of its own. Also, there will be available points of comparison for Bush's handling of the hurricane aftermath and his approach to foreign policy: Rudy Giuliani, lionized for his handling of September 11, keynotes the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America convention in New York late this afternoon, and on Thursday, former President Clinton kicks off a summit including hundreds of heads of state and CEOs in what Clinton aides describe as an effort to solve some global problems -- but in what others may interpret as a deliberate contrast to Bush's foreign policy.

In Washington, the post-Katrina scramble shares the lead this week with the confirmation hearings of -- barring some unforeseen development -- the next US Supreme Court chief justice. John Roberts faces the Senate Judiciary Committee, which includes some of the more outspoken members of each party's ranks, today at 12 noon. Today's session takes place in the historic but media-unfriendly Russell Senate Caucus Room; the rest of the hearings will be held in Hart 216.