The Tennessee Liberal

Two angles on the response from the Times Free Press today. First, an article from the AP about Harold Ford's excoriation of Bush for his "weak and uncertain" response to Katrina:

"There are all these poor people with no place to go, and the president's answer is 'hang in there?'" Ford said.

Then, a scathing editorial by the Chattanooga Times, that encapsulates much of the distress over the slow response by the federal government to Katrina.

The paucity of leadership is apparent...

...The failure of leadership extends to deeds as well as words. Though President Bush certainly was aware - or should have been aware - of Katrina's approach on Aug. 24, it appears he did little to prepare the nation for the storm's landfall. There's no indication that he ordered government planners to speed up the development of meaningful contingency plans to cope with impending disaster. Instead, he dawdled in Texas, even after the storm struck. The president did finally react Tuesday - once, he said, the magnitude of the storm became apparent to him.

He must not have been paying attention earlier. Anyone who heard or read news reports or watched CNN or the Weather Channel had a clear picture of what was about to happen. The only uncertainty was exactly where the point of impact would be...

Apparently, though, prompt action in the face of difficulty is not the way this president operates. He's energetic and decisive, flawed as his vision might be, in promoting the war in Iraq, tax cuts and changes to Social Security, but that excitement and urgency are sadly missing when it comes to the times when the nation faces its greatest perils.

Both pieces make the case that this is a clear instance of failure of leadership.

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