Trust me.” In recent days, some of that trust has been blown away.This is not terminal, but the President is dependent on events Fortunately, Rita proved less ferocious than was feared. But the Mr Bush’s reputation has suffered.In an embattled world, it is never wise for a politician to seem incapable of rising to the level of events A lot of Americans are uneasy about Iraq. The casualties, the interminability, the elusiveness of victory: all this depresses even some Republican spirits In response, the President can only make one point “This job has to be finished We will finish it We will win. Equally, contrasting Louisiana with Texas and Mississippi, where the state authorities shone, is helping middle America to a more balanced view of the blame question. Transported to other cities, a lot of the refugees have already found jobs: a course of action which would not have occurred to them back home.

Like the Highland Clearances, Hurricane Katrina may have forced poor people into a new life and a new mindset. Even if the hurricane joins the clearances in the litany of leftist grievance, the descendants of the victims may benefit.In the short-term, there is a more urgent question. Can the Republicans recover? Here, the evidence is ambiguous. The President’s decisiveness over Rita has repaired some of the damage caused by his reticence on Katrina. Why? Although high-qualify concrete had been paid for, low-quality concrete had been used. The savings had been split between politicians and contractors.For many of its inhabitants, ante-diluvian New Orleans was a ghetto of hopelessness in a land of opportunity In their case, the flood may bring relief. Some levees were useless, not because the floodwater poured over them, but because they crumbled.

The coastguards knew their business, which is also true of city authorities. But their business is idleness, corruption, crime and waste: a sullen fatalism masquerading as a relaxed approach to life.Evidence of mismanagement and fraud is mounting. Key Whitehouse figures were still on vacation; early reports suggested that Katrina would not be so bad: when Bush staffers think of hurricanes, they think Florida – the most frequent victim – and Governor Jeb Bush, the President’s brother He knows how to cope. No one realised how bad things could get in a less well-run state All those were contributory factors.

Even so, there is no excuse for such a lack of political grip.But this would have been politics, not life-saving. It is not clear that anything which the President could have done would have saved many lives The US coastguard service saved thousands of people It did not need direction from Mr Bush or anyone else. If he had spoken along those lines, he would have given the American public the reassurance it sought: that the commander in chief was on the bridge. His approval ratings would now be in the low 60s rather than the low 40s.So why did the President make such an elementary mistake? Over the past few days in Washington, I have spoken to a lot of Bush supporters, and no one has the answer. In Mr Bush’s position, Tony Blair would have known what to do. A sombre expression, a couple of solemn phrases, then stride towards the nearest TV camera All Mr Bush needed to say was something along these lines “Even the mightiest nation can be humbled by nature.