President Bush and the ResponseWhen the citizens of New Orleans needed federal assistance, the government was unable to respond. This inability turned into an obstacle for President Bush. President Bush's handling of the response to Katrina exposed a level of incompetence never seen before. In the eyes of the world, if a disaster of any kind were to occur, the United States could be counted on to support the recovery. The response to Katrina destroyed that notoriety and the president's image. Apologies, poorly chosen photographs, public statements and denials demonstrate how ill-equipped President Bush was to deal with this disaster. “A few days after Katrina hit New Orleans last September, President Bush told the press that the relationship between federal, state, and local governments is 'an important relationship, and I need to better understand how it works'” (Dreier, 2006). . A true leader, one who possessed the basic skills needed for crisis management, would have known that the three key qualities he needed to exhibit were trust, communication and collaboration. The president lost the trust of those in the disaster zone by not making decisions quickly enough. Instead of making the right decisions and earning the trust of those affected, postponing key decisions such as sending federal troops instead of issuing the call immediately seemed to further divide society from politicians. The president's confidence took another blow when FEMA Director Michael Brown was publicly praised for a job well done, when in fact the opposite was true. The country and especially the people affected needed to hear from the president. Yet it took President Bush nearly three days to publicly address the disaster... middle of paper... two years after Katrina, the pace of reconstruction depends on who pays. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-28-rebuild_N.htmPiper, P. & Ramos, M. (2006). A failure to communicate. Politics, scams, and information flow during Hurricane Katrina. Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jun06/piper_ramos.shtmlRobillard, K. (2012). 10 facts about the response to Katrina. Retrieved from http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/81957.htmlScience Daily. (2014). Hurricane Katrina. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/h/hurricane_katrina.htmShoup, A. (2005). FEMA is under intense scrutiny. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/government_programs-july-dec05-fema_09-09/Zimmermann, K. (2012). Hurricane Katrina: facts, damage and consequences. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/22522-hurricane-katrina-facts.html