Too Little and Too Late

The best analysis of the President's speech last night that I have seen comes from President Clinton's former speechwriter David Kusnet in The New Republic online. In his conclusion he provides the money summation:

Never before has a president spoken so well and acted so ineptly.

Great speeches take place at momentous times. This one has taken place weeks too late. It is a well written speech tantamount to nothing more than damage control. And not even the damage that the Administration ought to be controlling, but rather control of the damage to his presidency. His words last night were the equivalent of giving his first sound and reassuring speech after 9/11 on October 2nd. It just does not resonate. His true believers will line right up behind him again. The rest of us have a right to be more skeptical.

(On the other hand, Spencer Ackerman makes a sound case for why the knee-jerk response to the administration should not be that Katrina proves that we have paid too much attention to terrorism. If anything, it may reveal the opposite. Criticizing the President now is absolutely appropriate. But the President's opponents should at least avoid blaming him for the wrong things. Perhaps he has handled the threat of terrorism poorly -- I would make this case -- but the problem is not the emphasis on terrorism qua emphasis on terrorism.)

(Finally, in my apparent desire to get you to spend as much time as possible reading TNR today, I want to point out yet another article, this one by one of the truly great Southern historians writing today, James Cobb. He posits a possible explanation based on Southern culture for why so many people refused to flee their homes and neighborhoods in the wake of Katrina's devastation.)