WASHINGTON — Three years ago, Hurricane Katrina and its chaotic aftermath produced a collage of indelible images. Among them was a photo of President Bush, viewing the devastation from the comfort of Air Force One as he jetted to Washington.
Now, some of Bush's closest advisors say his administration's response to the disaster marked a turning point in what has become the most unpopular presidency in modern history. From then on, they say in a magazine article published this week, his tenure entered a downward spiral from which he could never recover.
"Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, the president's pollster and chief strategist in his 2004 reelection.
"Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin," added Dan Bartlett, former White House counselor and longtime aide to Bush.
Their comments are part of an oral history of the Bush administration included in the February issue of Vanity Fair.
Some polling supports their conclusion. After Katrina, Bush never again would see even the lukewarm approval ratings that he enjoyed in the summer of 2005. Even then, less than a year after he had secured reelection, his support nationally was eroding largely because of the extended conflict in Iraq. After early 2005, his approval ratings dropped below 50%, never to reclaim a majority of the public's support.
After Katrina struck in late August, plunging New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast underwater, Bush's numbers went into "free-fall," according to John Zogby, president of the polling firm Zogby International. "The decline was accelerated," he said.
With the government's halting and confused response to the calamity, the "president broke his bond with the public," Dowd told Vanity Fair. "Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter."
For many, Bush's actions epitomized the government's slow response. The storm barreled through Louisiana on the morning of Aug. 29, 2005. By that afternoon, several levees had failed and much of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes were flooded.
Bush had been vacationing at his Texas ranch. On the Monday the storm hit, he traveled to Arizona and California to champion Medicare legislation.
