Editorial: President’s New Deal

Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005 | 4:10 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

Sept. 17-18, 2005

George W. Bush is moving quickly in trying to escape the image of a president whose idling greatly compounded the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. In speeches Thursday night and Friday morning, he outlined in general terms a bold role for the federal government. The president said cities and towns within the ravaged region will be rebuilt using funds flowing from Washington. He said the people who have lost homes and jobs and even faith in their country will be made whole again through undying federal initiatives. He said the tragedy has exposed "some deep, persistent poverty in this region" and he acknowledged that the poverty "has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America."

We hope Bush was speaking with conviction and not just reading a good speech prepared for him by a White House staff trying to reverse the president's sinking approval ratings. The president now must follow through on his words to have a chance of overcoming his administration's disgraceful lethargy during the first several days after Katrina touched land on Aug. 28 just east of New Orleans. The TV images of Americans suffering terribly while Bush and his Federal Emergency Management Agency sputtered incoherently will remain in the public's eye for years to come. A genuine follow-through on Bush's announced rebuilding plans is the only way of partially counteracting the images of Bush and FEMA remaining idle despite days of advance warning that Katrina would be cataclysmic.

With the coastal areas of three states nearly destroyed, there is no question that Bush's speeches outlined the correct path. But it must have been hard for the president, whose supporters put him in office to cut taxes and shrink the federal government, to announce a plan recalling President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. We were glad, however, to hear in his words an admission that in times of national crisis a massive federal response is required. We wish he had thought of the inevitability of such crises during his first term. Instead, he pushed through irresponsible tax cuts, plunging the nation deep into debt. Now, with no choice except to borrow the relief money, expected to exceed $200 billion, it will be future generations that will pick up most of the bill.

Nevertheless, we believe Bush is on the right track now, even if he did have to be pushed there by public opinion. In the rebuilding of New Orleans and the other coastal regions, we wish his plan success. And if government learns along the way how to build cities that boast of opportunity rather than poverty, we hope the knowledge extends to all of America's cities. "We have a duty to confront poverty with bold action," Bush said Thursday. Words to live by.