An unraveling presidency

Mouths agape, the American people are yelling, "the emperor has no clothes!" An administration that never before let bad facts get in the way of good politics was suddenly confronted with nearly 1,200 dead and decomposing bodies on the streets of a major American city. With images and stories normally associated with Somalia or Rwanda broadcast live on CNN with a New Orleans dateline, the Bush administration went back to the four-step playbook that has allowed them to handle other disasters so well. Step 1: Deny that mistakes were made. Step 2: Blame a Democrat or fall guy. Step 3: Reestablish leadership credentials with an impressive speech. Step 4: Change the subject. This time, however, the game plan hasn't worked.

The most important reason this strategy has failed is the significance our society assigns to human remains. It was not the 19 dead GIs that doomed the U.S. mission to Somalia, but the videos of an angry mob desecrating their bodies. Photographs of body bags in Vietnam turned the public against that war.

So it was not surprising that the administration tried to prevent the media from showing images of dead Katrina victims, just as it had already blocked the media from showing flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq. A year from now, what percentage of Americans will remember who Michael Brown was? But what percentage could forget the images of that canvas covered wheelchair? The intensely visual and visceral nature of this catastrophe makes it different from others, and that is why it threatens to have a more profound impact.

Furthermore, the facts are easily available. It proved relatively easy for the administration to turn the debate over WMD in Iraq into a he said/she said shouting match because the truth was not accessible to those outside the inner circles. Saying that everyone was doing a "heck of a job" — as administration officials tried in this instance to do — was not going to work, so cue phase two.

This is the only stage in which the maneuvers have succeeded, and rightly so. Ray Nagin is no Rudy Giuliani. The Louisiana Democratic Party is corrupt and inefficient. Local and state leaders do bear some responsibility. But where is the condemnation of Mississippi state officials? Oh, wait, that state is Republican-controlled. Therefore, the 221 deaths in Mississippi are ignored. The fact is,this was not a one-state or one-city issue but a national crisis requiring strong federal leadership that never materialized.

The American people have taken note. With images of death and destruction seared into our collective consciousness, we seek to find meaning in what we saw. A larger context and greater prism through which to view the world is necessary. That prism is making steps three and four of Bush's playbook impossible to execute.

Bush's reputation for strong leadership was his most cherished political possession. Defined by Sept. 11, Bush was seen by Americans as strong and decisive for four years before Katrina exposed his administration as gravely inept. The defining moment in the four-step's failure was the staggering disconnect between screens split with images of crying kids and a chipper Michael Chertoff.

Four other explosive and expanding scandals are reinforcing Katrina's message. Tom DeLay has been indicted for money laundering. Our beloved Bill Frist '74 has been hit with allegations of insider trading. Jack Abramoff and David Safavin face criminal charges related to illegal lobbying and no-bid contracts. White House maestro Karl Rove faces the culmination of the Plamegate probe.

These scandals and the Katrina disaster exposed an infestation of abuse and arrogance that has spread throughout our entire government. The spotlight has landed on our nation's capitol, revealing political welfare for well-connected Republicans — with fatal results. If the Democratic Party establishment were competent it could have seized on this moment of public clairvoyance to do more than say "we can do better," and actually say how we could do better. They have already forgotten that Kerry lost because he stood for opposition. Opposition can win only 49 percent of the vote; you will never govern if you are defined not by what you are but by what you are not. Democrats do not grasp this; Republicans do.

The American people have realized that our emperor is not wearing anything at all. When viewed through the prism of the recent Republican scandals, it is easy to see that strength and leadership are not there, just like the emperor's clothes. Barry Caro is a freshman from White Plains, N.Y. He can be reached at bcaro@princeton.edu.