In Gustav, Bush seeks redemption for legacy

Three years ago, a botched federal response to Hurricane Katrina sent President Bush's popularity on a slide from which it has not yet recovered.

Worse, it cemented his legacy as a hands-off president who had allowed a distracted staff at the Department of Homeland Security to focus so fiercely on post-9/11 foreign terrorism that they forgot to protect the public from good old-fashioned, home-grown floods, hurricanes and earthquakes.

Today George W. Bush sought to rewrite the first draft of history.

He rolled up his sleeves and flew down to an emergency operations center in Austin, where he greeted first responders.

He asked questions about coordination between federal, state and local officials -- one of the key failings of the Katrina response.

And he showed concern for the victims, something seen as missing from his attitude three years ago, when victims clung to their roofs seeking rescue while Bush remained on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

This time White House focus was so intense that press secretary Dana Perino was caught off-guard when asked about the surprise resignation of Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

"If his name isn't Gustav," she said, "I haven't heard about it in the past 24 hours."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press

Comments

[Steven]

So after 8 years, we now know that President Bush is a slow learner. But at least he learned....with the help of an election year.