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 WASHINGTON (AP) - Disaster has been both the making and the undoing of President Bush.
Bush's bearing after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — tough yet empathetic — felt right to the public. The attacks transformed a presidency that had been searching for purpose, and he rode voters' support to a second term despite questions about the economy and the war in Iraq.
He was far less sure-footed when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. He stumbled through his initial appearances in the disaster zone, leaving the impression of a president distant from the immense suffering. His presidency — like the region — has never quite recovered from its faltering early reaction.
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