Obama's Katrina Moment

Jennifer Loven, who has covered the White House for The Associated Press since 2002, wrote a news analysis a few days ago that was lost in the holiday shuffle.

In it, Loven asks if the failure of the Obama Administration to prevent the near tragedy of a likely terrorist bombing aboard a Detroit-bound passenger plane and Obama's subsequent downplaying of the incident could become Obama's Katrina.

The answer is "no" because Katrina and the Bush Administration's handling of the natural disaster was overplayed by the liberal media, which is anti-Republican and anti-Bush.

Regardless of how poorly Obama and his underlings did in response to the terrorist threat, the liberal media will cover up for one of its own.

Still, the parallels between Bush's handling of Katrina and Obama's failure to protect the nation from terrorists are there for all to see.

From Loven's analysis:

The Obama administration claim that "the system worked" after a failed aircraft bombing wasn't quite as jolting as President George W. Bush's "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" while New Orleans sank under deadly Hurricane Katrina. But both raised disturbing questions about presidential response in a time of crisis.

Bush's praise for his beleaguered FEMA director, Michael Brown, came while storm evacuees remained trapped in the Louisiana Superdome and victims' bloated bodies floated in the streets. It became a clarion call for all his administration did wrong during the 2005 calamity -- and a larger symbol of all that people disliked generally about Bush.

Loven focuses on the incredibly stupid comment by two high-ranking Obama officials that "the system worked" when it was fellow passengers who subdued the terrorist who was allowed on the plane by the same "system" Obama's people praised.

Loven writes:

Members of Congress -- Republicans, but some Democrats too -- were incredulous that "the system worked" was used in any context to describe what happened. "It is insulting that the Obama administration would make such a claim," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee -- who is running for governor in Michigan -- said in a campaign e-mail.

Republican Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl on Tuesday criticized President Barack Obama and his administration's response following the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner. McCain said Obama should have addressed the nation earlier about the botched attack. Kyl said he now doesn't feel "totally safe" with Napolitano as homeland security secretary.

Phrases do matter. Sometimes they come to take on a life of their own, with context and nuance forgotten, representing broader beliefs or fears.

For Bush, the "heckuva job" comment more than four years into his presidency fit into an already well-developed critical narrative, that he was loyal to lieutenants to a fault and hands-off on even important matters. It stuck.

For Obama, still short of one year in office, his narrative, critical or otherwise, isn't set yet.

Nonetheless, rumblings keep resurfacing about emotional distance, even coldness. Whether it's Wall Street bonuses or terrorist near-disaster, people wonder whether he feels as they do or ever acts out of passion. The comment may well stick.

Read the full story here.