I’m only slightly hopeful that
the spell has been broken and more people see Bush for the distant, muddle-headed fool he is. Only slightly hopeful that a few more
people see the Emperor is buck naked. mjh
President Bush Meets the Press in New
Orleans, Admits ‘Sense of Relaxation’ After Hurricane Hit
THE PRESIDENT: … And I know there’s been a lot of
second-guessing. I can assure you I’m not interested in that. What I’m interested in is solving problems. And there will be
time to take a step back and to take a sober look at what went right and what didn’t go right. There’s a lot of information
floating around that will be analyzed in an objective way, and that’s important. And it’s important for the people of this country to
understand that all of us want to learn lessons. If there were to be a biological attack of some kind, we’ve got to make sure we
understand the lessons learned to be able to deal with catastrophe. …
THE PRESIDENT: Look, there will be plenty of time to
play the blame game. That’s what you’re trying to do.
Q No, I’m trying to —
THE PRESIDENT: You’re
trying to say somebody is at fault. Look — and I want to know. I want to know exactly what went on and how it went on. And we’ll
continually assess inside my administration. I sent Mike Chertoff down here to make an assessment of how best to do the job. He made a
decision; I accepted his decision. But we’re moving on. We’re going to solve these problems. And there will be ample time for people to
look back and see the facts.
Now, as far as my own personal popularity goes, I don’t make decisions based upon polls. I hope the
American people appreciate that. You can’t make difficult decisions if you have to take a poll. That’s been my style ever since I’ve
been the President. And, of course, I rely upon good people. Of course, you got to as the President of the United States. You set the
space, you set the strategy, you hold people to account. But yeah, I’m relying upon good people. …
Q Did they misinform you
when you said that no one anticipated the breach of the levees?
THE PRESIDENT: No, what I was referring to is this. When that
storm came by, a lot of people said we dodged a bullet [1]. When that storm came through at first, people said, whew.
There was a sense of relaxation, and that’s what I was referring to. And I, myself, thought we had dodged a bullet [2].
You know why? Because I was listening to people, probably over the airways [?], say, the bullet has been dodged
[3]. And that was what I was referring to.
Of course, there were plans in case the levee had been breached. There was a sense of
relaxation in the moment, a critical moment. And thank you for giving me a chance to clarify that.
Q Mr. President, where were you
when you realized the severity of the storm?
THE PRESIDENT: I was — I knew that a big storm was coming on Monday, so I spoke to
the country on Monday morning about it. I said, there’s a big storm coming. I had pre-signed emergency declarations in anticipation of a
big storm coming.
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: — which is, by the way, extraordinary. Most
emergencies the President signs after the storm has hit. It’s a rare occasion for the President to anticipate the severity of a
storm and sign the documentation prior to the storm hitting. So, in other words, we anticipated a serious storm coming. But as
the man’s question said, basically implied, wasn’t there a moment where everybody said, well, gosh, we dodged the
bullet [4], and yet the bullet hadn’t been dodged [5].
Q Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Last
question.
Q This is two weeks in. You must have developed a clear image at this point of one critical thing that failed,
one thing that went wrong in the first five days.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I think there will be plenty of time to
analyze, particularly the structure of the relationship between government levels. But, again, there’s — what I think Congress needs to
do — I know Congress needs to do — and we’re doing this internally, as well — is to take a sober look at the decision-making that
went on. …
Thank you all.