Visit any one of a number of MSM news sites or left-leaning political blogs and you’ll think that George W. Bush is in the tank. He’s washed up. He’s a looooooser. Hurricane Katrina was the nail in the coffin and he is (along with the entire GOP) going down.
Funny, that’s not what I see in the latest Gallup Poll. Ankle Biting Pundits posted the results today and adds a few notes too.
GALLUP POLL RESULTS:
Initial Response (total good)
44% (good) George W Bush
39% (good) Residents of New Orleans
38% (good) State and local officials in Louisiana
36% (good) FEMA/federal agencies
NOTE: The President’s INITIAL response to Katrina was rated higher than ANY of the other options — Does anyone remember reading this anywhere . . . nuf said?!Recent Response (total good)
58% (good) George W Bush
59% (good) Residents of New Orleans
57% (good) State and local officials in LA
56% (good) FEMA/federal agenciesFederal Government:
Despite the Mediacrats best efforts, Gallup discovered that 60% of repondents still had confidence in the federal government’s ability to handle natural disasters and 63% had confidence in the government’s ability to handle terrorist attacks.The President’s Job Approval:
46% approve
[UP from last week’s 45% and last month’s 40% . . . similar to Rasmussen’s 47% approval (50% likely voters) and certainly much higher than the BOGUS ratings recently published by AP, Newsweek and ABCNews/WashPost]The Blame Game:
49% of Americans say the media are spending too much time trying to affix blame
48% say the same about Democrat leaders in Congress
31% say the same about Republican leaders in Congress
[Not all Americans are brain dead sheeple!]
I’ve been reading how many claim that Bush would have never taken responsibility for the Feds lackluster initial response to the Hurricane unless the polls told him to. Now, if we were talking about Bill Clinton, I’d agree wholeheartedly. That man wouldn’t comb his hair until he read a poll that showed over 50% approval for placing his part on the left.
While I have no doubt that many in the White House do read polls and attempt to act on them, I don’t believe that Bush makes a final decision based solely on a popularity percentage. There are a lot of things he wouldn’t have done as president if he was strictly poll led.
I think most Americans know that Bush is the type of guy to admit fault when he truly believes he’s to blame. This drives the Left crazy because he won’t admit to the things they think are his fault.
So, why did he take the blame this time? First of all, Bush felt bad about what happened in New Orleans. He was embarrassed by the lame response of FEMA and other federal departments. With all the talk of fighting a war against the terrorists and never letting 9/11 happen again, he couldn’t deny the fact that his homeland security muscle wasn’t in the shape he thought it was. In other words, his credibility was shaken.
The U.S. continues to be more vulnerable than Bush would like, and it is his responsibility to patch the weak spots. How often has he looked into the camera and said his number one job as president is to keep Americans safe? Hurricane Katrina put the fear of God back into him, forcing the question, “what if the U.S. had been hit with nuclear terrorism instead of a natural disaster?”
He didn’t like the answer. That’s why he stood up in front of the American public yesterday and did the right thing. He told everyone he didn’t like what saw, and he’ll work to fix it.
I don’t believe the Gallup Poll had anything to do with his speech yesterday. I think it accurately reflects what most Americans feel about George W. Bush. He’s genuine, he’s sincere, and (like it or not) he means what he says.
Others: Junk Yard Blog – “Bush needs to defend himself and not try to win over the Left” | Bill Quick – “I see this meme setting in among those spinning pro-Bush regarding his apology for the performance of the feds in the Katrina NOLA fiasco. Unfortunately, it’s B.S.” |