Bush puts on a good show, apparently

From Senator Landrieu, regarding Bush's press junket to New Orleans:

"But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -- black and white, rich and poor, young and old -- deserve far better from their national government."

If you read around the blogosphere, you'll see many similar accounts of Bush's visits - when the photographers come, suddenly there's workers, support, and supplies. When the photographers leave, the workers, support, and supplies go with them. But these stories get a whole new level of credence when even senators start telling them. This sort of political stagecrafting in the wake of such a tragedy makes me feel ill.