The initial reaction to President Bush's
outline of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts has generally been positive.
But one question: Why did the President return to Washington?
I realize this isn't the most important issue, but are we to forget that conservative pundits drilled for weeks about all the work Bush could do at the "Western White House," in Crawford, Texas?
Conservatives defended the president taking some five weeks in Crawford, saying that with all the communication tools at his disposal, and all the administration officials and cabinet members willing to travel to Texas, that Bush was barely taking any vacation at all.
So why did Bush have to travel to Washington to give a speech? Was it to have this
photo-op?I would have assumed that Bush, rather than flying low over New Orleans on his way to the Rose Garden, would have done better to stop in the Crescent City and hold an impromptu press conference -- perhaps rolled up his sleeves and passed out bottles of water -- before trekking back to nearby Crawford to meet with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and the emergency team being assembled to deal with the catastrophe.
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This article first appeared at
Journalists Against Bush's B.S.