If Bush was a Strong, decisive leader, we wouldnt see stories like this one!!!!but..of course he is not....

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Katrina delivered a heavy political blow to President George W. Bush, potentially crippling his second-term domestic agenda and undermining Republican prospects in next year's congressional elections, political analysts said on Tuesday.

"There's going to be significant and long-term damage to Bush, especially because this disaster comes on the heels of a slow bleeding of his approval ratings over the past year that accelerated over the summer," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Before the hurricane struck, Bush's approval ratings had fallen to some of the lowest of his presidency -- 45 percent in Fox News and Gallup polls taken at the end of last month and 41 percent in a CBS poll. Voters were expressing growing disenchantment with the war in Iraq and high gasoline prices.

Now, those prices have skyrocketed and Americans face a winter of high prices at the pump combined with heating oil prices that are double or higher what they were last year.

"If gas prices and heating oil remain where they are, every elected official in Washington, D.C., is going to be in trouble. It's unacceptable to people because many won't be able to bear the cost," said one senior Republican congressional staffer, who asked not to be named.

Bush has certainly proven himself a resilient politician in the past and some Republicans believe he can recover his standing by ensuring that hurricane cleanup and recovery efforts go smoothly after the initial failures.

But the images of a city drowning while the government stood by, seemingly unable to help desperate people, will not fade quickly, said pollster John Zogby.

"Those scenes are not going to go away. Bush can recover a bit through damage control but those early impressions could be devastating for him and could hurt his party," Zogby said.

The pictures struck at Bush's most important political asset -- his image of being a strong, decisive leader.

At the least, Bush's domestic agenda is now thrown into disarray. His Social Security reform plan already seemed dead but Republicans in Congress were about to make tax cuts enacted in Bush's first term permanent. Also looming was a difficult and divisive debate about immigration reform.

The effect may be to accelerate the process by which second term presidents turn into lame ducks in their final two years.

"The hurricane and its aftermath will overarch all other agenda items for the rest of this year and maybe beyond," said Tom Rath, a prominent Republican activist in New Hampshire.

MAKE IT RIGHT

"The one thing the administration can do is concentrate all its efforts on getting things right along the Gulf of Mexico. They must grab hold of the situation and make it right. That's the right thing to do and it's also the right political thing to do," he said.

As the immediate emergency fades, Congress is likely to hold hearings and possibly appoint a commission to investigate the many failures that took place before and after the hurricane hit. Many individuals and organizations are likely to come under criticism, but as President Harry Truman famously noted, "The buck stops here."

The congressional staffer said: "This event affected four states. Who else could have been in charge but the president?"

Added Rath: "There will be plenty of blame to go around but if you take credit for the sunshine, you also get blamed for the rain."

Democrats so far have been slow to criticize, but that is sure to change. Setting the tone, House of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Bush displayed a "failure of leadership," as the crisis unfolded.

"What is needed in a response like this is one that minimizes death and disease, which minimizes the front assault that this makes on the livelihood of the American people," Pelosi said, "If there's any lesson to be learned, it's that this response was not appropriate."

Looking forward to the November 2006 mid-term elections, even before the hurricane many analysts said the political environment was looking unfavorable for Republicans.

But Republican political consultant Rick Davis said voters would not be thinking of what happened in 2005 when they entered the ballot box.

"It depends more on what's happening a year from now, on whether the administration has met peoples' needs," he said.