Conditions are terrible and heartbreaking right now in New Orleans and the Gulf, so perhaps it's inappropriate to be thinking about the political consequences and ramifications of what is happening right now in the aftermath of Katrina.
But you know damn well that Rove & co. are thinking about this - trying to minimize the political damage and maybe even jujitsu this somehow into political advantage. (Hence, the title of this post). For that reason, I think we need to be preparing now to shape the political landscape in the weeks ahead and anticipate countermoves.
Right now, the indictments against the Bush administration can be summarized accordingly:
- Cuts to Army Corps funding for New Orleans levee system and hurricane mitigation.
- Diversion of LA, AL, and MS National Guard troops to Iraq causing temporary shortfalls of boots on the ground and key equipments in the affected zones in the zero-to-72 hour phase.
- Failure of Bush to disrupt his planned schedule and realize enormity of the crisis.
- Failure of DHS & FEMA to adequately coordinate multi-agency (incl. state & local) response to emerging crisis, especially after the levees broke. This includes adequate pre-positioning of supplies as well as adequate manpower. Tied into issue of steady degradation of FEMA's capabilities since end of Clinton administration.
- "Business as usual" attitude bordering on callousness within Administration as crisis got worse yesterday and today.
And their emerging Pantheon of excuses and rebuttals includes:
- Looters out of control. We can't get in and do the job because of them.
- Much bigger hurricane than we thought. No one could have prepared for it.
- Actually, strike that, we're doing fine, everyone has all the resources they need.
- It's France's fault. They built the city there in the first place.
- Why are you Democrats trying to politicize this? Show some compassion in this time of national crisis. We all need to pull together.
Feel free to add to these lists if I'm omitting any key overarching themes.
Listening to the tone of the debate today online and on TV, it sounds like the Administration is losing the rhetorical war on the issue of the response to the Hurricane, and I think that this has prompted a smugness on this site (which I have fully and admittedly participated in today) about the consequences of this for the Bush administration.
But then I wonder - why the hell aren't Democratic leaders getting mixed up in this? Is it because they're all of on end-of-recess fact-finding trips to Afghanistan and Vanuatu right now? Or is it because they're afraid that politicizing this, or appearing to politicize this, leaves them vulnerable to counterattack? Are they perhaps right to think this - or not?
What is the right way that disgusted Democrats - both moderate and liberal - should respond to this fragile political situation? Sit on the political sidelines for now, and play cheerleader? That didn't work out so well after 9/11. Attack the administration's credibility? Maybe, but how? This has to be a direct hit, with a focused and narrow message (not all five above - maybe 1 or 2 at most) delivered by the right people to the right channels with impeccable and precision timing.
I don't have firm convictions yet on answers to any of these questions. I'm curious to hear what peoples' thoughts are. I just know that I don't want another post-9/11 outcome for the Democratic party - where Rove and his thugs used the true patriotic loyalty of people like Max Cleland and Tom Daschle as an excuse to drive them out of office.