WP: Storm and Bush On the Move [View All]

[kskiska]

Chief Executive Refashions His Readiness Posture for Rita

AUSTIN, Sept. 24 -- President Bush was not going to get caught off guard by Hurricane Rita this weekend.

The president who refused to cut short a working vacation three weeks ago to prepare for the fury of Hurricane Katrina was sitting at the U.S. Northern Command post in Colorado on Saturday morning monitoring what had become a more timid storm.

"I've come here," Bush explained, "to watch NORTHCOM in action, to see firsthand the capacity of our military to plan, organize and move equipment to help the people in the affected areas."

(snip)

Bush's posture toward Rita contrasts sharply with the days after Katrina. Then, Bush was preoccupied with Medicare, the Iraq war and getting back to his Crawford, Tex., ranch to finish up a month-long hiatus from the White House. He was seen strumming a guitar at an event in California as New Orleans was filling up with water flowing through breached levees.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/24/AR2005092401538.html