First Read: Is Bush's two-pronged approach working?

[Mark E. Smith]

(My interpretation of this nifty little piece of analysis? In a week we will know for sure that Bush's golden ass is cooked.)

9/12/05

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 on 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 the public's view of the war in Iraq, the war against terror, and the Administration's ability to handle a crisis. Senate and House committees begin hearings this week into what happened with the response. Polls released by Time and Newsweek both show Bush with his lowest approval 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%. Support for his handling of Iraq has declined to 37%, 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 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 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.

http://www.FirstRead.MSNBC.com

[niyad]

1. would somebody PLEASE tell me what katrina has to do with the "war on

terra" other than the fact that the soldiers are all away, and the money is being blown up in a country that has done nothing to us?

are they THAT contemptuous of us that they truly believe we are going to buy this conflation? stupid question, of course they are--I see this kind of stupidity on my own boards all the time.

[OKDem08]

3. To me, it clearly illustrates the true level

of their desperation & actually, I think their attempts at combining the two will result in the opposite effect.

[cornfedyank]

2. let me guess. the first prong cuts wages, the second forks the

bales of cash out to fema "no bids".

who lobbied that?