Karl Rove and Katrina

Salon has an excerpt today from Paul Alexander's new book about Karl Rove, focusing on the White House's handling of the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I'm all for delving into the basic mystery of Rove: how did a political consultant whose principal skill was tactical - targeting and turning out narrow bands of conservative voters - and whose principal m.o. against opponents was toxic rumors and whispering campaigns, come to control the levers of government, something which he clearly neither understood nor cared much about? This is key to the failure of the Bush presidency, and I don't think any of the Bush books have yet fully explained it or set it in context.

Unfortunately, neither does Alexander's book, at least if the Katrina narrative is any indication. His account of the days following August 29, 2005 is lively, but it relies exclusively on interviews with Louisiana Democrats, including Senator Mary Landrieu and former Governor Kathleen Blanco. They're important players in what happened, of course. But they don't know what was going on behind the scenes with Rove and the White House staff any more than the rest of us. (Scott McClellan doesn't have a whole lot more, but at least provides an insider's perspective in his book.)

Alexander's sources offer opinions and speculation on what happened with Bush's inner circle, some or all of which may be valid - and all of which we've heard before. It's clear, as they point out, that the White House began spinning very early, trying to shift blame for the debacle from the (Republican-controlled) federal government to the (Democratic-controlled) state and local governments. So, facing an enormous challenge in mobilizing the resources of government, an effort that should have included smart, honest public communication, the White House instead tried to save its own skin with spin and political positioning. This isn't surprising - it's what politicians do - though what I found shocking in researching this for my own book was that this seemed to be all the White House was doing.

What I'd still like to know, and am disappointed not to find in a book about Rove, is what were Bush and Rove saying and doing during that terrible week? Why was the president so disengaged, to the point of permanently damaging himself? How did Rove (apparently, absurdly) come to run the response effort, as the White House briefly declared? Answers to these questions would tell us how Bush his team acted in a profound domestic crisis, and offer an important clue as to why his presidency fell apart.

www.johnmcquaid.com/blog

Follow John McQuaid on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johnmcquaid

Comments

[TimmySlagle]

I can't believe this meme is still being recycled, trying to pin this calamity on the Administration. The biggest mistake the President made was assuming that all the levee money being sent to New Orleans, had actually repaired the levees.

How could anyone have know it was still sitting unspent, in people's freezers?

But beyond that, Wasn't Katrina almost three years ago?

Isn't it time to Move On?

[Chillinout]

"Isn't it time to Move On?"

Tell that to the thousands of people down there without housing and the many more thousands that are having to live in other parts of the country. As a country, I don't think we can truly move on until the Katrina debacle is corrected.

[doctorj2u]

We in SE LA and New Orleans want this information too. What did the Corps of Engineers use their money on? We want an 8/29 investigation, but many in Congress are fighting it, including John McCain. What are they afraid of finding out?

http://levees.org/index2

[realpolitic]

I guess the post above would pass for Republican compassion. Slagle would rather do his best in a rather lame attempt to protect the president when tens of thousands in New Orleans still suffer or live in contaminated trailers. Even Scott McClellan, former presidential spokesman, was embarrassed by the Bush response to Katrina. Senator McCain has criticized Bush's response to Katrina as "disgracef­ul."

But to those on the far right, Bush was not at fault for failing to respond to Katrina and letting New Orleans residents wade for a week in waist deep waters, rather it was the people of New Orleans fault for living there. With Republican sentiments like these, they are indeed their own worst enemies. Most people have even a shred of decency and compassion.

[realpolitic]

Most administrations have a public relations arm that helps them with damage control. The administration tries its best to work with situations and then the damage control team tries to gloss over mistakes and deflect criticism. As this article suggests when "facing an enormous challenge in mobilizing the resources of government, an effort that should have included smart, honest public communication, the White House instead tried to save its own skin with spin and political positionin­g."

But most White House's actually have a team that is confronting the problem. As the author states, this White House abandons the problem and gets right to work on public manipulation and spinning the media to shift blame. I guess they figure they can get ahead of the news cycle that way. It must be the only White House in history whose entire response to a huge catastrophe is damage control in the media and letting the victims fend for themselves. Rove is to blame for being a cynic who only values people as voting blocs. Bush is to blame for being a blank slate of a president. We are to blame for voting them into office.

[americanalien]

The criminality of the Bush regime is so profound they are beyond impeachable. It is no surprise that Karl Rove had such sweeping powers on all these levers of Government. They don't call him Bush's brain for nothing. The sheer incompetence and culture and cronyism that characterized this administration is simply unprecedented in the history of the United States, even Nixon couldn't top this. I think Katrina was a turning point in the Bush Presidency. I was never sold on this regime and so are many of you, but the events of Katrina was the single stimulus that caused many in America to wake up and realize that this man really has no business being President of the United States. I don't know guys, it seems like we just have to make the clock run out on this one. Hope is only five months away.

[realpolitic]

Here's how Karl Rove confronted what to do about Katrina: He considered the people packed in the Super Dome and those wading through the muddy water in the streets of New Orleans and asked himself how many of this largely poor and black populace was liable to vote Republican in the next election. His answer came quickly- very few. Therefore, he did nothing and Bush did not interrupt his vacation on the ranch even to tune into the Katrina debacle unfolding by the minute on CNN and even Fox news.

[aznurse]

I don't know what Bush and Rove were doing and saying, but I know that C Rice was buying shoes and asking if they came in black, that Cheney was hunting and sayiing lets go kill something

May they all be punished.

[drblack]

The picture that best describes the republicans during Katrina was the picture of Bush and McCain holding a Birthday cake together while the people of New Orleans suffered.
McCain will completely destroy the USA if he is allowed to steal the Presidency. McCain's masters in Saudi Arabia will try to steal it for him just as they did for Bush.

[drblack]

How and why did Rove,basically a PR man,get top level security clearance? How is it that Rove knows more about the US governments secrets than the elected members of Congress?
Rove and ALL the top people in the Bush administration are Traitors. By simply reading the public record Bush has failed to uphold his oath of office. His breaking the law with his illegal spying program is enough to have Bush,Chene­y,Addingto­n and Yoo all convicted of Treason.
The entire Bush administration needs to be put on trial and then the traditional punishment for treason needs to be carried out.

[Fairfax]

I'm disappointed in your post, Mr McQuaid.

I thought you'd offer some information we don't already know.

Anyone with a brain realized some time ago that the country has been run by Mr Cheney and Mr Rove.

The problem with Katrina is that it happened at the height of the Administration's vacation period. I could hear the whining from here when it looked as if there was a disaster taking place on our Gulf coast and Bush's peeps would have to get to work.

[lthuedk 1]

http://www.light-to-dark.com/yellowcake_tango_0.html

[oogabooga]

The neocons are always complaining that government makes a mess of everything. Well, they sure proved that to be true.

[LTCKal]

The one thing liberals find difficult to comprehend is how much mileage the other side can get despite knowing nothing and relying on empty spin. Rove's ability is to muster stupid followers, co-opt lazy journalists and spin, spin, spin. The Iraq war will go down in history as one that was supposed to be won by spin rather than by military tactics and strategy. The plan was the same for Katrina, only it didn't work, because here the journalists actually saw what was happening. I don't know if the liberals have yet caught on.

[Indubio]

I think liberals have caught on...the question is what to do about it. Most liberals care not only about the "game;" the outcome matters and so for us it isn't just winning that matters. Winning's important but often one may win strategically by tactically retreating. Conservatives only know how to play the game one way and they have no interest in win win: It's heads or tails I win---liberals lose: This is the lesson Democratic Party leadership has yet to comprehend.

For liberals the issue is do we permit ourselves to sink to the level of our political adversaries? I'm reminded of the tactics used by Robespierre and Lenin during the French and Russian revolutions. They knew monarchists (19th conservatives) would never willing give up power and so they killed them all. Both revolutions were successful at mass murder but each failed to comprehend human nature; that sooner or later, another group would rise to the top and rule. I read many liberal blogs and attitudes often reflect a lets take no prisoners GOP-like approach. I have mixed feelings about that. Gut level, I say let's hang the GOP from gibbets but the Founders understood that even true democrats can become corrupted without political competition and so liberals need conservatives to keep us honest least we become like them. The issue then is how is this goal accomplished? I really can't say.

[Oldbuck]

The Republican only thing is to advance the party that why they vote in lock step. If one of them jump off a cliff then they all will jump. They assume that the people of the United States are to dumb to make any decisions and that only the Republican party know what is good for you. This why in the last 20 years Washington seem to not hear the will of the people. The Republican party has all ways thrived when voter apatite is at it greats so get out and vote

[johnqeniac]

There isn't simply 'one key' to the bush catastrophe - the bush regime represents a near perfect storm of evil intent, incompetence, greed, and bad luck on the part of its members as well as abject gutlessness by the congress and the press. rove almost certainly studied goebbels, for all of his tactics are derivative and not original. But bush surrounded himself with greasy and ambitious entities such rove, cheney, rumsfeld, rice, etc. - each of whom played its role in creating an historically disastrous regime. In his laziness toward details, bush was quite happy to play golf while his stable of reptiles carried out the real 'work' of destroying the country. It is quite appropriate that Rove has ended up on fox news, which has come to serve as the nation's septic tank or toxic waste dump for political effluence.

[americanalien]

Well said brother, well said.

[contrariandy]

ROVE'S 2008 GOP ELECTION SLOGAN:
GOVERNMENT DOESN'T WORK
(FOR THE LITTLE GUY)

[Uselessboy]

Well DUH!!

The Republicans have no intention of "governing­." They're only interested in capturing assets and dismantling governance by and for the people.

All they _needed_ from Rove was electoral success. Anything about government that they didn't accidentally break thru incompetence, they were just going to have to wreck on purpose sooner or later.

The week of Katrina they were on VACATION. Same as they were just be 9/11.

Who cares? They certainly didn't.

[ProfessorDuh]

Exactly. The Bush gang is the ultimate manifestation of pure Republican Party principles. They despise governance and sneer at the common good, and are ready to poison any race, religion or reputation to further their kleptocracy. Their mission is to loot the government for private gain. If the taxpayers who didn't have the good sense to be born rich are raped and endangered in the process, who cares? They're just those "little people" Leona Helmsley used to talk about, meant to be squashed under a well-heeled heel.

[realpolitic]

It shows what happens when people are elected who hate and dsepise government. Bush despises government and has never had any use for it. He just sees it as a giant sucking machine that takes his money because he is wealthy and has always been wealthy. He has probably never depended on government even to deliver basic services. When people who hate government get its reigns, then they want others to hate government too, so they show us how incompetent government can function.

[DRaymond]

My pet theory is that Bush, until perhaps very recently, has never regarded himself really as the leader but a construct for the media while the real work was being handled by Cheney because he had no particular interest in it. When actually confronted with a decision he would go with his gut because that took neither thought nor effort. Thus those who knew best how to manipulate Bush's 'gut reactions' rose in power and influence. Thus Rove.

[HuffingPuffing]

I believe you're spot on, but you're not alone in believing this. It became clear to anyone paying attention that Bush was sold as "the candidate you'd want to have a beer with" while the patently unelectable Cheney was left to run the show as "VP". Rove's role was to get Bush elected under whatever pretenses it took in order to make this happen. John DiIulio's comment about the "Mayberry Machiavellis" should have tipped everyone off about the true intent of this most wicked administration - and he was talking about Rove in particular.