Mama, he's a lame duck now

With every twp-term presidential administration, there is a point where it is clear that the president is a lame duck. He can't run for re-election. Others are vying for his office. This usually happens somewhere just after the mid-term Congressional election. If there is ever doubt when George W. Bush became a lame duck, though, it might be recorded as Aug. 30, 2005, the day Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area of the United States.

This week showed that President Bush simply cannot be "presidential" at a time of crisis. He jokes about his party-boy past in the city, he declares he is looking forward to sitting on the porch of a rebuilt home belonging to Sen. Trent Lott in Mississippi, he flies over a disaster area confortably ensconced in his roaring jet, he congratulates his incompetent director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and he hugs a black family as if he can actually understand the loss they feel.

And it all just looks like a load of crap.

President Bush's policies have led to a city in absolute crisis, and the disaster is a signal to the rest of the world: America cannot simultaneously wage a war in a foreign land and also defend the homeland.

This is America, a shining city on a hill, a beacon of hope for tired and poor, huddled masses. This is America, a nation so mighty it won the Cold War through intimidation and force. This is America, a republic that serves as a model of democracy for developing countries around the world. In America we have come to know comfort. We accept that nature will wreak havoc and will cause problems. We know that nowhere is absolutely safe, and we work to minimize dangers. We feel the hurt in the world, and we generously share our wealth.

And so when we see refugees walking across a highway to get out of a flooded city; when we har about the stinking, festid waters rising too rapidly for some to escape; when we watch people climb to the rooftops, arms flailing for a rescuer, any rescuer, we have to say ourselves, incredulous: This does not happen in America.

We look to our leaders -- our president -- at a time of crisis. We seek comfort. We want assurance that government is working and will help. We want the resources to come swiftly, just as they have gone swiftly to Indonesia, to Somalia, to sites of calamities around the globe. But when we looked to our leader, we got a snicker, a fly-by and false words of hope. We did not get what we needed.

So, George W. Bush is a lame duck -- and he should be. The fall will be consumed by two major responsibilities: rescuing the Gulf Coast and filling two vacancies on the Supreme Court. Congress will head to the winter recess and return in January for an election-year session. If Congress is smart, it will discover, as thousands of Southerners learned the hard way this week, that the president is not a leader. Congress should move quickly to enact an aid package, without waiting for the president. In fact, the Congress should force the president to act in a responsible way.

This was a bad week for George W. Bush. Now, the president is the lamest of ducks, and we're already looking past him.

-- Seattle