[Roberts:] A year ago tonight, Hurricane Katrina was closing in on the Gulf Coast. President Bush was on vacation, and no one was ready for what the government now calls the quote "single most catastrophic natural disaster in U.S. history." As we speak, the president is sitting down to dinner in New Orleans, still trying to undo both the physical and political damage from the storm of a lifetime. Here's White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux with tonight's "Top Story" in politics.
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Still feeling the political heat one year after the federal government botched its response to Hurricane Katrina. President Bush is trying to convince the American people he's still committed to bringing the Gulf Coast back.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] Optimism is the only option.
[Malveaux:] That message delivered outside a renovated home in the punishing Mississippi heat.
[Bush:] I feel a a quiet sense of determination that's going to shape the future of Mississippi. And, so, I have come back on this anniversary to thank you for your courage, and to let you know the federal government stands with you still.
[Malveaux:] Mr. Bush paid a brief visit to Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, towns once destroyed by Katrina, now cleared of debris.
[Bush:] I was struck by the beauty of the beaches.
[Malveaux:] The president met with local business leaders, who are bringing back jobs and cash through the casino industry, toured a boat factory that has residents back to work, and reunited with sisters who cried with Mr. Bush last year, after losing everything, now housed in FEMA trailers. Mr. Bush says, the $110 billion in federal aid allocated for Gulf Coast recovery is robust. Now it's up to state and local governments to get it to the people.
[Bush:] You know, hopefully, that will work. Hopefully, that's enough. It's certainly enough to get us through the next you know, next period of time. And the hardest part has been to get the state reconstruction efforts up and running.
[Malveaux:] But polls show, he has made little progress. The president's image as a strong leader took a big hit after the hurricane, and has never recovered. Just before Katrina, six in 10 Americans considered Mr. Bush a strong and decisive leader. Just after the hurricane, that figure dropped to 49 percent. Now it stands at 51 percent. [on camera]: Mr. Bush moves on to New Orleans, Louisiana, where, he admits, the recovery effort is much slower. Today, the president said, it will take years, not months, to bring the region back. Suzanne Malveaux, Gulfport, Mississippi.
[Roberts:] And will memories of Hurricane Katrina make a difference at the polls this November, in the midterm elections, and on the president's overall legacy? And here to debate that, Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, along with conservative political analyst Bay Buchanan, who's president of the American Cause. Let's take a look at some new CNN poll results. Sixty-four percent of respondents said that they disapprove of the way that President Bush is handling the response to Hurricane Katrina. And, as you can see, that's worse than it was in September of 2005 those numbers from Opinion Research Corporation. Bay Buchanan, it seems to be getting worse for the president, when it comes to Hurricane Katrina, not better.
[Bay Buchanan, Cnn Contributor:] There there's no question the polls do indicate that. I think there's no question, also, though, that the president is completely committed and focused on trying to do something down there. It has taken longer than maybe the American people expected it to take. And maybe the message isn't as clear as it should be, that maybe the president's I don't know how he could go down there more, John. He has been down there 13 times. But maybe the progress, when it starts to be seen, will really then, he can benefit from it. But but the the hit was taken, and he has not recovered from it. You can't argue that.
[Roberts:] Right. Jamal Simmons, the Democrats are using Katrina as a point to to question and attack President Bush's competence and caring, which are two of his sort of signature personal issues. Is it fair or unfair to do that, to as Bay said, he has been there 13 times. He appears to be committed to the rebuilding.
[Jamal Simmons, Democratic Strategist:] Of course it's fair to do that. The American people trusted President Bush, after 911, to create a Department of Homeland Security that was going to protect us, and make sure that, in case of natural disaster, the federal government would be there to help take care of us. Katrina proved that that's not the case. And, so, is it political? Is it a political decision to say, we want the American government to protect American citizens in a time of disaster? Yes, that's a fair that's a fair point to raise in the course of political debate. And Americans are asking that question. I think George Bush clearly has lost the confidence of the American people, both on both on compassion and on competence.
[Roberts:] Bay Buchanan, is this going to be felt at the polls in November? Will people vote with competence and confidence and caring on their minds?
[Buchanan:] You you know, I think, John, the key problem here for the president is, Katrina is a symptom. Katrina is one of the factors that have contributed to a public mood in this country that Republicans haven't done the job the president is at the head of the party and they have failed to put the country where the American people expected it to be at this time. And, so, that is what the president and Republicans are fighting. It's not Katrina, per se. If you look at the congressional races that are close, most of them in fact, overwhelmingly they are in the Midwest, in the northeast. They are not in the south. There's only about six down there. The key is the public mood, not Katrina. Katrina is a symptom that made the people stop giving the president and Republicans the benefit of the doubt. And then the war set in, you've got immigration problems, you've got gas problems, and the American people are now disenchanted with Republicans.
[Roberts:] Jamal Simmons, is Katrina going to have the same impact on these November elections as say Iraq will?
[Simmons:] Well I think it all goes in a package. What Katrina is a symbol of the failure of the Bush administration. After 911, America also trusted George Bush to fight the war on terror and instead he abandoned the initial fight in the war on terror in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden and went into Iraq. And Americans every night watch the news and see Americans die and see what's happening in Iraq. So now we also are facing this anniversary of Katrina with seeing the effect of a year later the city of New Orleans is still devastated, Americans remember sitting in their homes for three days watching their fellow citizens stranded on rooftops, drowning, and all of that, and now they've literally lost confidence in this president.
[Buchanan:] What you know what I don't understand, John? It's clear that before the president failed and before Republicans in this administration failed, a democratic mayor and a democratic governor performed atrociously. They were on the front lines of this battle and the mayor himself was reelected. It shows that the people down there are not holding the Democrats responsible. I think that's a message Republicans should say, listen, these guys did a lousy job. At least the president has admitted his mistakes, has made some changes, has been down there. It's time for Democrats to step up to the plate now.
[Roberts:] All right, well we'll keep watching this. Jamal, unfortunately we're out of time here, but we've got lots more time until November, it's not over yet. We'll come back to this. Thanks very much, folks. CNN's Soledad O'Brien has been in and out of New Orleans a number of times over the past year. Coming up, what's getting better and what still needs attention after the storm of a lifetime.