On With the Show

I confess, I did not watch Bush’s speech last night. We don’t watch the president’s speeches in our house, mainly because hearing him speak — or attempt to speak — is usually a painful experience. I prefer to read the transcript that come out shortly after the speech is over which is what I did in this case, even though we had the talking points well in advance of the speech.

To put it plainly, I’m underwhelmed, as were many other people who managed to sit through the speech. I can’t speak for the rest, but what I read in the transcript just doesn’t match up with what I’ve been hearing and reading all week about the process of reconstruction and recovery. It makes Bush’s speech seem like so much icing on an already-moldy cake.

For starters, Bush has already made sure that the rebuilding of the Gulf will be more about political patronage than the people displaced by the storm. He did that the moment he put Karl Rove in charge of it. Essentially, it’s just another Bush political campaign.

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.

And if that doesn’t convince you, look at who’s lined up to get in on the reconstruction gravy train. Yup. Halliburton, assisted by former FEMA head and Bush campaign director Joe Allbaugh — whom I’ve mentioned before. Even Kenyon International — the firm involved in the corpse-dumping scandal I mentioned earlier, and a case in which both Bush and Allbaugh were called to testify and accused of doing to falsely — has been signed to help with the body recovery in New Orleans. Of course, is doesn’t hurt that they contributed $100,000 to Bush’s presidential library. I kid you not.

Bush’s own party isn’t sure the president can pull off all he promised in his speech, and they’re not sure they want to pay for it anyway.

On Thursday, even before President Bush promised that "federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone," fiscal conservatives from the House and Senate joined budget watchdog groups in demanding that the administration be judicious in asking for taxpayer dollars.

…Their comments were in marked contrast to the sweeping administration approach outlined by Mr. Bush in his speech from New Orleans and a call by Senate Republican leaders for a rebuilding effort similar to the Marshall Plan after World War II. Congressional Democrats advocated their own comprehensive recovery program Thursday, promoting a combination of rebuilding programs coupled with housing, health care, agriculture and education initiatives.

And those who are interested in rebuilding are not necessarily interested in doing so for the people who lived in the devastated areas before the storm.

It doesn’t really matter anyway, because Bush probably knows that the Congress that’s pretty much ruled by his own party isn’t likely to give him half of what he promised in his speech. Conservatives, even before Katrina, were grumbling about Bush’s abandonment of small government as a principle of conservatism — having actually grown the government on his watch. (But the recovery and rebuilding effort in the Gulf coast isn’t really about the size of the government in the first place, something I’ll get back to later.) But the show must go on, nonetheless. Bush must go on portraying himself as a confident, competent leader, even when shown to be otherwise; to the entire country and the rest of the world.

But perhaps the harshest review of Bush’s speech is a silent one from the man himself. Over at the Tattered Coat, Matt has posted a post-speech picture of Bush that literally speaks a thousand words.

We see the president from the back, as he boards Air Force One following his speech. Bush appears to be slowly climbing the stairs to the plane. His head is bowed, and his back is soaked in what could only be described as a "flop-sweat." The image is one of a nearly beaten, defeated man, who’s just made a great effort to set himself right again.

Whether he can right himself or not remains to be seen. If he is defeated, with three years yet to go in his second term, it won’t be the Democrats who will have done it in the end. It won’t be Republicans in his own party. It won’t even be the hurricane itself. It will be George W. Bush who defeats George W. Bush; even if he continues to pretend otherwise.