Bush to Pelosi: "What didn't go right?"

Here's the context:

President Bush is "oblivious, in denial, dangerous," when it comes to the plight of the storm's victims, charged House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. Her Senate counterpart, Sen. Harry Reid, asked pointedly whether the chief executive impeded relief efforts by remaining at his Texas ranch last week while the storm churned toward the Gulf Coast...

Pelosi, speaking at a news conference, said Brown had "absolutely no credentials" when Bush picked him to run FEMA.

She related that she urged Bush at the White House on Tuesday to fire Brown.

"He said, 'Why would I do that?'" Pelosi said.

"I said because of all that went wrong, of all that didn't go right last week.' And he said 'What didn't go right?'"

"Oblivious, in denial, dangerous," she added.

It's hard to know what to believe sometimes, but is it so hard to believe that Bush governs in denial, that he lives in abject ignorance of reality? Look at Iraq. Look at the economy. Look at the so-called war on terror. Now look at the aftermath to Katrina. As I've said before, over and over and over again, there's a lot of blame to go around, and I'm not about to pin it all on the president, but, for God's sake, does he have any idea what's going on out there? (Any more of an idea than his mother?) Sure, he went down there and showed that he's a compassionate man, and I don't doubt his sincerity. (Nor do I think that he doesn't care about black people -- thanks for that snippet of idiocy, Kanye, you're a great help.) But is it really too much to ask that the president of the United States be even remotely competent, or that he show some leadership in a time of crisis? Sure, he just sat there reading to those children when he learned of the 9/11 attacks, but at least he emerged to unite the country, if only temporarily, in the days and weeks that followed. Now he just seems to be leading an administration that seems to have no clue what it's doing. None whatsoever. The two other key players, Governor Blanco of Louisiana and Mayor Nagin of New Orleans, haven't exactly shown much leadership skill either, but, well, I expect more from the president of the United States. Don't we all?

Kevin Drum responds to the Bush-Pelosi exchange here, and he includes a link to an impassioned Andrew Sullivan:

The president is still out of it. I must say that the Katrina response does help me better understand the situation in Iraq. The best bet is that the president doesn't actually know what's happening there, is cocooned from reality, has no one in his high-level staff able to tell him what's actually happening, and has created a culture of denial and loyalty that makes fixing mistakes or holding people accountable all but impossible.

Exactly. (I said much the same thing in a post earlier this evening at The Moderate Voice.)

Where's the accountability? Where's the sense of responsibility? Where's the statesmanship?

Show some, Mr. President, if you are in any way worthy of your high office.