The president will address the nation this evening, live from New Orleans. He will reportedly speak, without a live audience, from Jackson Square, with the famous St. Louis Cathedral as a backdrop. One wants to assume there will be no “Mission Accomplished” banner overhead, but time will tell.
And with just about four hours until Bush delivers the speech, the fine folks at Think Progress obtained a copy of the talking points being distrubuted to conservative outlets, so the right knows how to offer “on-message” praise Bush afterwards. Among the highlights:
* Tonight President Bush will talk about how there is some optimism that we can see as we move forward. We’re going to build a better Gulf Coast, a better New Orleans and we’ll work with local officials to make sure that happens.
* Many parts of this will be chalked up to the fact it was one of the worst storms our country has ever faced. But there were things in a post-9/11 world that our government at all levels should be doing better and President Bush more than anybody else wants to find out why it took place and how it took place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
* Senator Frist and Speaker Hastert have indicated that Congress will conduct a thorough investigation modeled after some of the most serious investigations that Congress has ever undertaken: the 1973 Watergate Committee, the 1987 Iran Contra Committee, the 1994 and 1995 Whitewater Committees and the 1997 Campaign Finance investigation.
* It’s wrong to say it’s either winning the war on terror or funding aftermath of Katrina. We have to do both that means we’ll have to cut spending where else to make sure we are fiscally prudent with the taxpayer’s dollars.
* There’s always discussion about raising taxes but right when businesses and people are trying to get back on their feet in the gulf coast region, the worst thing we can do with these families is pop them with another tax.
* This is going to require difficult decisions in Washington. It’s going to be important that we don’t have the same ol’ same ol’ that we see in Washington. Tough choices will be to have made and President Bush is willing to do that.
It sounds, at a minimum, like Bush is not exactly prepared to rise above the usual political games. He says there will be an investigation — but fails to note that it will be dominated by Republicans. He says we’ll have to cut spending, but he probably won’t say where, and he probably dosen’t realize that Tom DeLay has already said that’s impossible. He says we won’t raise taxes because these families can’t afford the hit, but he fails to mention that he’s the one who made it possible to lower the pay for workers in the region below federal minimums, not to mention the possibility for raising taxes on hyper-wealthy people who are already comfortable “on their feet.”
How about you? Any predictions for tonight?