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Thursday, September 15, 2005

All they care about is how it makes Bush look
Posted by Jill | 2:46 PM

So you thought that after the "Brownie" debacle the Bush Administration would think they should put people who know about dealing with the aftermath of disasters in charge of the reconstruction?

Nope.

Because none of that matters. The only thing that matters is saving C-Plus Nero's sorry political ass.

The ever-more indispensable Dan Froomkin documents the atrocity:

All you really need to know about the White House's post-Katrina strategy -- and Bush's carefully choreographed address on national television tonight -- is this little tidbit from the ninth paragraph of Elisabeth Bumiller and Richard W. Stevenson 's story in the New York Times this morning:

"Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort."

Rove's leadership role suggests quite strikingly that any and all White House decisions and pronouncements regarding the recovery from the storm are being made with their political consequences as the primary consideration. More specifically: With an eye toward increasing the likelihood of Republican political victories in the future, pursuing long-cherished conservative goals, and bolstering Bush's image.

That is Rove's hallmark.

Rove, Bush's long-time political adviser and the "architect" of Bush's ascendancy, was rewarded after the 2004 election with a position at the White House with overt policy responsibilities. But whereas in some previous White Houses, governance took precedence over campaigning once the election was safely over, Rove has shown no sign of ever putting policy goals above political ones. (See my Rove profile .)

Tonight's speech promises two classic features of the Rove approach.

Bush will take advantage of powerful imagery -- the Associated Press reports the speech will be held in historic Jackson Square, with the famous St. Louis Cathedral as a backdrop -- and he won't risk having anyone around who might disagree with him or ask an impertinent question. In fact, the AP says, there won't be a live audience at all. (And even the journalists covering the event are being told they won't be allowed to stray from their press vans.)

As for the speech itself, it will inevitably seek to answer any naysaying about Bush by recasting him in the heroic, leadership role he played after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- while advocating a range of measures that are dear to the conservative political agenda.

It will, on the other hand, feature one very unRovian tactic. Typically, it is the Democrats who are blamed for wanting to solve problems by throwing money at them. But tonight, Bush will be the one throwing the money around.

Will it work? Rove has an astonishing track record of success. But at the same time, Bush finds himself today a deeply unpopular president according to the opinion polls, particularly damaged by his lackluster response to the protracted, televised suffering in New Orleans.


Will Americans fall for it, or will they be offended by the precedence that Bush's political fortunes ALWAYS take over the needs of real people?

Will the media fall for it, or has Oz the Great and Terrible been revealed for all eternity?

Stay tuned.

The one aspect to all this that should be hilarious is that George W. Bush, the President of the Haves and the Have-Mores has now been put in the position of trying to salvage his political legacy by promising lots of government spending -- on impoverished black people.

Gotta love it. It's almost enough to make me believe that there really IS a Jehovah....and that he doesn't like what the Bushistas have done in his name.
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