Weathering Hurricane Gustav and Putting Country First

Bobby Jindal was at the top of my list for GOP VP; but thankfully, Louisiana has the governor it needs at this moment in time, and the McCain team got who it needs to pull the conservative base together.

It's been heartening to visit my fellow right-wing bloggers who were absolutely livid over the McCain candidacy, "coming home to roost" since the announcement of his running mate, Sarah Palin. Finally, Republicans are becoming energized about the 2008 election; while across the aisle, some Democrats are feeling "buyers remorse" and "Barack burnout"/"Obama fatigue".

With President Bush and Vice President Cheney attending to Hurricane Gustav rather than to the RNC, Governor Bobby Jindal taking leadership helm, and John McCain commanding that the opening of the convention "has got to be Americans helping Americans. America first.", the "stuck on stupid" blame-game finger-pointing hysteria-driven media won't be able to make the handling of Hurricane Gustav into a negative political issue for Republicans.

Bush and the Republicans have never recovered from Katrina. The president's approval ratings, already sinking under public dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq through the summer of 2005, plunged further after Katrina. His halting reaction -- and even worse, the woeful performance of federal disaster agencies and his widely ridiculed remark to then-FEMA Director Michael D. Brown, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" -- left an indelible mark on his presidency and his party. The Republican brand is at its lowest point in years.

I agree that post-Katrina efforts might be grounds for fair criticism (insofar as anything is ever handled with smooth perfection); and the handling of Katrina might have been less than stellar, even in the absence of media hysteria that made the situation on the ground worse than the reality, shaping public perception that persists to this day. But at least the good that came of Katrina (including the public outcry against government response) has been in our preparedness to learn from the mistakes of 2005 (does anyone truly believe that federal response would have been any better under a different Administration? First-responders, of course, remain at the State and Local levels) and apply lessons-learned to Hurricane Gustav and future disasters.

John McCain made a smart move (contrast it to former DNC National Chairman Don Fowler's "politics before country" reaction to Gustav). What could have potentially been a political liability (by 1. Reminding voters of Katrina under Bush's watch and 2. Accusing the GOP of insensitivity by having a celebratory atmosphere at the RNC while fellow Americans weather the onslaught of another major storm) is now neutered into irrelevancy; or, even as a plus for John McCain, America's 44th president.