When even a photo op is too much

Four months after Bush touts Katrina recovery, a victim says: "Not much has happened."

Published August 18, 2006 1:06PM (EDT)

Call us cynical, but when George W. Bush pops into a damaged home in New Orleans and promises that it will be rebuilt, we're inclined to think, "Yeah, that one will be, but what about all the others?"

Turns out that "cynical" is the wrong word. "Overly optimistic" is more like it.

As Think Progress notes, the president stopped by the storm-damaged home of 74-year-old Ethel Williams in April, threw his arm around her shoulders and proclaimed himself amazed that "people from across the country" were helping her rebuild.

Four months later, Williams tells NPR that "not much has happened" and that she's "disappointed because nothing's been done."


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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