Wow, this is a White House that is responsive to threats, knows how to contain damage and minimize casualties. From the moment the threat became apparent this White House went into high gear, marshalling all its resources, enlisting key personnel and working long hours to coordinate a response, get the word out and ensure there were boots on the ground. It is an impressive performance and one we’ve seen before from an administration geared to recognize and respond to a crisis and that has the resources necessary to ensure that whoever is in trouble gets help from multiple sources, using federal, local and even private resources as needed. Their ability to even be able to commandeer private business and individuals to the cause is a monument to their skills.

I’m speaking, of course, of the massive public and private effort mounted within 24 hours designed to shelter and protect George W. Bush’s sorry ass from the Category 5 storm of protest and to distance him as much as possible from the death and destruction caused by his administration’s inability to respond to the needs of its citizens in the direst of crises.

From the NYTimes.

Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.

The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush’s chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides.

As a result, Americans watching television coverage of the disaster this weekend began to see, amid the destruction and suffering, some of the most prominent members of the administration - Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Donald H. Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense; and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state - touring storm-damaged communities.

What it really does, I hope, it to underscore just how much of a Marie Antoinette administration we have in this country. From bush refusing to see Cindy Sheehan because he believes the nation would rather he spend his time getting buff and tanned to lolling around a few extra days on his vacation because he has put in place a system of “homeland security” that cannot even keep him informed on what is happening in his own country, let alone do anything about the very conditions it was ostensibly created to address, namely the massive destruction of infrastructure and displacement and death of citizens in a catastrophic event, be it terrorism or natural.

This administration has been an utter and complete failure since it took office in 2001, it is sad to see that for much of this nation it takes an event like this one to wake them up to that fact.