George W. Bush As Hurricane Isaac

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

28 August 12

here is nothing Republicans would rather the American people forget more than George W. Bush, who doesn't even have a bit-part at the GOP convention opening in Tampa.

But W's ghost may be there, anyway.

The National Weather Service says tropical storm Isaac is now heading for New Orleans, and Isaac is projected to become a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall late Monday or early Tuesday.

Isaac is very likely to revive memories of the Bush administration's monumental incompetence in dealing with the needs of Americans caught in Hurricane Katrina.

And if the public remembers the Bush administration's incompetence with Katrina, they may also recall the Bush administration's incompetence and its lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - which led us into that devastating war.

And the public may recall how George W. Bush took the $5 trillion surplus Bill Clinton bequeathed to him and turned it into a $6 trillion budget deficit by slashing taxes, mostly on the rich, and by creating an expensive new Medicare drug benefit that helped drug companies more than it helped seniors.

The public might even recall how the Bush administration tried not to see what Wall Street was up to when the Street went on a rampage of risky bets, and then, when Wall Street was about to melt down, pushed Congress into approving a no-strings bailout - both of which cost the nation billions more.

Indeed, we're still living with George W. Bush's legacy - the last Republican to occupy the White House - which is a truth that Romney is desperate to put out of our minds. He wants to blame the bad economy, and most of everything else, on Obama.

The GOP was intent on not even bringing up Bush's name at the GOP convention, because the former president might also remind Americans how little the Republicans care about average Americans, like those caught in Hurricane Katrina, and how much they care about top corporate and Wall Street executives, like those being entertained in Tampa.

But Hurricane Isaac seems likely to remind Americans anyway.

Let us hope and pray Isaac doesn't cause the disaster of Katrina. We can at least be confident that the Obama administration will respond as the Bush administration didn't.

But the split screen on the TV newscasts - part GOP convention, part Hurricane Isaac bashing into the Gulf Coast - may nonetheless pose a public-relations disaster for the GOP.

Robert Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written thirteen books, including "Locked in the Cabinet," "Reason," "Supercapitalism," "Aftershock," and his latest e-book, "Beyond Outrage." His 'Marketplace' commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.