'Open season' on Bush

2005-09-08 09:35

Washington - Democrats, divided over President Bush's handling of Iraq, are coming down hard on his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Some of the harshest words are coming from 2008 presidential hopefuls - from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's ridicule of relief coordinator Michael Brown to suggestions by former North Carolina Senator John Edwards that the hurricane's aftermath underscores the "two Americas" theme of his presidential campaign last year.

"It's piling on time," said Rutgers University political scientist Ross Baker.

Democrats, armed with talking points and in close consultation, went into full battle mode on Wednesday on the Republican administration's handling of the crisis.

Clinton called for an independent commission to study the response and made the rounds of four network morning television shows on Wednesday.

2 disasters

Of Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Clinton told CBS: "I would never have appointed such a person. I would imagine, I don't think that anybody would. You would appoint somebody who has experience."

Congress' top two Democrats led the charge. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada pressed for a wide-ranging investigation that would explore questions such as "How much time did the president spend dealing with this emerging crisis while he was on vacation?"

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, renewed her call for Brown's dismissal and declared: "There were two disasters last week: first, the natural disaster, and second, the man-made disaster, the disaster made by mistakes made by FEMA."

She told reporters she had urged Bush in person at the White House on Tuesday to fire Brown.

"Why would I do that?" Pelosi quoted the president as saying.

White House counsellor Dan Bartlett challenged Pelosi's account as "inaccurate and unfortunate."

As a party, Democrats had spoken with different voices on Iraq.

"Democrats see a real problem with the way this administration has handled Katrina, and see real needs that have to be addressed. Everybody is trying to do the best they can to help these victims," Mellman said.

The nation is divided on Bush's hurricane performance largely along political lines.

More than two-thirds of Republicans said Bush is doing a great or good job in responding to the hurricane and flooding, according to a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll out Wednesday. About two-thirds of Democrats say he is doing a bad or terrible job.

Republicans have accused Democrats of seeking political advantage in criticising the administration's response.

White House spokesperson Scott McClellan on Wednesday defended the president's engagement and the job being done by federal officials. "We are focused on bringing everybody together to help the people in the region. And the president continues to act to make sure that we're addressing the ongoing problems," he said.

- AP