Bush confronts post-storm image

NEW YORK -- Four years ago, after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush came here, grabbed a megaphone, and vowed that the world would soon see a forceful response from the United States. His approval rating skyrocketed, and many world leaders supported the subsequent war in Afghanistan.

But when Bush returned here last week, squeezing a speech to the United Nations in between trips to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, his poll standing had never been lower and his credibility among world leaders had been severely damaged after going to war in Iraq based on intelligence now acknowledged to be faulty.

A journey with Bush during the last week, including a wrenching tour in an open-air military convoy through the flooded streets of New Orleans, continuing in Mississippi, and on to the United Nations, revealed a president searching for ways not just to repair the hurricane damage, but also the political damage at home and abroad that threatens to undermine the remaining three years of his presidency.

In his nationally televised speech from New Orleans on Thursday, in which he laid out his reconstruction plan for the Gulf Coast, Bush provided a glimpse of how he might transform his presidency. Having won election twice by calling for major tax cuts and a smaller government, Bush's legacy may now depend on how he handles one of the biggest government expenditures in history. Not only is the era of big government back, but so are lofty social goals, such as Bush's new emphasis on curtailing the sort of poverty that was evident in the coverage of the areas hit by Katrina.

But Bush hasn't said how he will come up with the needed $200 billion or more to pay for the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast -- and some question whether his agenda of tax cuts, revamping Social Security, and halving the deficit can survive in the face of such unexpected costs. With Iraq war costs also skyrocketing, some members of his own Republican Party are protesting that Bush is too willing to add to the deficit without cutting spending.

Moreover, by acknowledging he must address the poverty of many New Orleans residents, Bush is emphasizing an issue that until recently has received little attention: the poverty rate has risen every year of his administration, with 37 million living in poverty in 2004, up 1.1 million from the prior year, according to the US Census Bureau.

Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, applauded the president for saying that he wants to ''confront this poverty with bold action." But he said Bush has failed to provide details for how he would ease the plight of the poor. Greenstein called on Bush to make a dramatic gesture by asking leaders of both parties to come together for ''a Rose Garden announcement that we are reconsidering everything, including taxes and spending."

Some analysts are concerned Bush will try to replay his strategy on Social Security, in which he called for a massive overhaul of the program while insisting that Congress address the financing details. That strategy so far has failed to yield a solution, leading to charges that Bush showed weak leadership on the issue.

Nonetheless, Bush yesterday was vague about how he planned to pay for rebuilding along the Gulf Coast.

Asked how his reconstruction plans would effect the federal deficit, Bush said only that ''we should not raise taxes" and ''we have to cut unnecessary spending."

When Bush arrived at the UN for his Wednesday speech to the largest gathering of world leaders in history, his standing in polls was at an all-time low. A New York Times poll, released this week, found that 41 percent of Americans surveyed said they approved of his job performance, and 44 percent approved of his handling of Katrina. Only 35 percent said they had confidence in Bush's ability to make the right decisions about the war in Iraq.

Some analysts dismissed the poll findings. ''There are several times in last five years when Bush was 'unbeatable,' " said David John of the conservative Heritage Foundation. ''Now we have stories that he has no political capital, everything is doomed, and this is the end." John said it is crucial that Bush not drop his initiative to revamp Social Security, stressing that the program's insolvency will only be greater if a solution is delayed. Katrina has changed Bush's priorities, John said, ''but it hasn't changed the mission."

Critics have accused Bush of political hubris, exemplified by his comment last year that he couldn't think of any mistakes that he had made. So it was significant when Bush, at a news conference Tuesday at the White House and in his speech on Thursday, took responsibility for mistakes made in the federal response to Katrina.

But it remains to be seen whether Bush will make a significant shift in his priorities or governing style to meet the continuing challenge in Iraq and the new challenge to his presidency posed by the aftermath of Katrina.

The magnitude of the task facing Bush was evident as he visited the storm-ravaged streets of Gulfport, Miss. He seemed most at ease visiting a local church, where a ''Free Food" sign welcomed residents. Bush beamed as he shook hands and held babies as though he were still on the campaign trail. But minutes later, asked at an impromptu news conference about reports of the resignation of Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Bush had the kind of deer-in-the-headlights moment feared by every presidential aide.

''Maybe you know something I don't know," Bush said. The remark seemed to make his aides wince; the Brown resignation became official a few hours later.