Elephant In Exile

Grading The Speech: C(ish)

I must admit, that Bush touched on nearly every point he probably should have last night, and by the standards of his past speeches, this one wasn't too bad. But of course, I can't help myself in putting in my two sense. Here's how I would have advised him to approach the topic.

Start from the podium: The walk to the podium was too long, the shot was too far away, it made the President look small and a bit awkward. Just start at the podium.

don't' bury the lead. Yes, it is proper and important to note the public's heroic response to Katrina, but start with what everyone wanted to hear...We messed up.

Show some anger. Just a little, to let us all know you get what's going on. Saying the feds, state and locals failed is great, but come on man, did you see those bodies in the water, the folks at the conventions center?

After the anger, and the contrition, then move on to thank the public for its response and the coast guard ect. And while many churches are leading the response (and doing an outstanding job), many non-Christian organizations have helped out too...

Call for Congress to reprioritize (cut) spending to help fund rebuilding...perhaps by even singling out some members (Don Young!) to give up their pet projects to offset the enormous cost of reconstruction. Like 9/11, Bush is in a position to call for sacrifice for the greater good and use it to help control spending...he didn't do it after 9/11, and he didn't do it last night. He should....this aspect is by far the biggest hole in the response so far.

Again, not to bad Mr. President...