Folks Aren't Buying the Media/Dem Spin

Dan Balz writes a column in today's Washington Post that was proven wrong almost the minute it was published. It starts like this:

When terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001, Americans came together in grief and resolve, rallying behind President Bush in an extraordinary show of national unity. But when Hurricane Katrina hit last week, the opposite occurred, with Americans dividing along sharply partisan lines in their judgment of the president's and the federal government's response.

Sounds ominous, doesn't it. Uh-oh Dan, on the same day as your breathless column, a new poll indicates that the sharp division you describe isn't actually happening (h/t Little Green Footballs):

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 609 adults taken September 5-6 shows:

Blame Game — 13% said George W. Bush is “most responsible for the problems in New Orleans after the hurricane”; 18% said “federal agencies”; 25% said “state and local officials”; 38% said “no one is to blame”; 6% had no opinion. — 29% said that “top officials in the federal agencies responsible for handling emergencies should be fired”; 63% said they should not; 8% had no opinion.

This poll basically renders the rest of Balz' column irrelevant. What most journalists don't seem to be learning out of this whole Katrina mess is that the vast majority of Americans don't look at natural disasters in political terms. They don't spend their lives examining the political angles of every event; unlike beltway journos who have nothing better to do.

I think Dick Morris may have it right in this column:

[George Bush's] reviews in the first days after the tempest hit are clearly bad and he obviously failed to anticipate the magnitude of the response the nation expected and the area needed -- but relief is a gift that keeps on giving. Day after day after day, people will see a massive flow of federal aid to the hard-hit area.... This process, likely to become a theme for Bush's second term in the way 9/11 dominated his first one, will ultimately become a presidential strength. Not that he wanted it. Not that he handled it well to begin with. Not that he didn't mess it up at the start. But this story will have a happy ending for Bush -- and, we all hope, for the people of New Orleans.

I think the worst is over for the Federal government. Mike Brown (FEMA head) may end up the sacrificial lamb for any Federal missteps, but the news will start getting better and better.