home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Time - Man of the Year
/
Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso
/
moy
/
090792
/
0907991.000
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-04-08
|
3KB
|
61 lines
THE WEEK, Page 18NATIONIn the Eye of the Political Storm
The big blow tests the President's reflexes in a vote-heavy
state
For George Bush, Andrew could hardly have been more ill-
timed. Just as the President had begun to emphasize what he
promised would be a bold approach to domestic policy in a second
term, the hurricane threw him on the defensive. Instead of
showcasing Bush's strengths as a crisis manager, the storm
offered the Democrats an opening to charge that he was, once
again, slow to respond to problems at home. Fairly or not, Bush
was, by week's end, deflecting questions about his performance.
"There's no point," he said, "getting into blame and this who-
shot-John thing that I know everybody's fascinated with."
To his credit, Bush cut short a political trip to New
Jersey last Monday and hurried to Florida to view the damage
just hours after the hurricane blew through. But he stayed just
an hour and a half and spent only a few minutes chatting with
Florida Governor Lawton Chiles during a photo opportunity. Two
days later, again anxious to show fresh tactical flexibility
under newly installed chief of staff James Baker, the White
House hustled Bush off to Louisiana in Andrew's wake. "The
President," Bush explained to the sodden residents of New
Iberia, "ought to show up when people are hurting."
But in Florida, which took the hardest hit, local
officials were blaming Washington for the slow response, while
federal bureaucrats retorted that the state had failed to ask
formally for military help. Not until Transportation Secretary
Andrew Card met with Chiles and an angry Florida congressional
delegation on Thursday did Bush move beyond motion and into
action. That night he ordered the Pentagon to rush everything
from food to field hospitals to south Florida. But by then, four
days had passed. Bush, like nearly everyone else, had badly
under estimated the damage.
The season is well under way in which every act by the
incumbent presidential candidate is viewed through an electoral
lens. Florida just happens to be a critical state in November.
Bush may yet demonstrate leadership in the wake of Andrew and
turn the state's reconstruction to his advantage. But even
before Andrew hit, polls suggested that Democrats had their
first real chance in 16 years to win Florida's 25 electoral
votes. That made the stakes considerably higher -- and the
prospects of solicitous attention considerably greater for
Floridians.