US President George W Bush vowed today that Americans will overcome the ordeal presented by Hurricane Katrina as a weekend of September 11 remembrances was overshadowed by scenes of destruction in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast.
Mr Bush used his weekly radio address to remember the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, saying Americans were pulling together to help Katrina victims just as they did the victims of the hijacked-plane attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
"Today, America is confronting another disaster that has caused destruction and loss of life. This time the devastation resulted not from the malice of evil men, but from the fury of water and wind," Mr Bush said. "America will overcome this ordeal, and we will be stronger for it."
But Mr Bush has not recaptured the spirit of bipartisan unity he championed in the weeks and months after the September 11th attacks, a period in which he gained great credit for his leadership and his job approval ratings soared.
Yesterday, he was forced to bring his head of emergency management, Michael Brown, back to Washington amid widespread evidence that relief operations have been botched and charges that Brown had padded his resume.
Mr Bush's approval ratings have sunk to all-time lows. A majority of Americans, 59 per cent, are dissatisfied with his performance and 39 per cent said he is doing a good job, according to a new Associated Press/Ipsos poll of 1,002 people taken this week.
A contributing factor to his low poll numbers has been the Iraq war, fought over weapons of mass destruction that were never found.
In the Democratic response to Bush's radio address, a Mississippi Democrat criticised the White House for failing to follow through on its promise after the New York attacks to ensure the country was prepared for a catastrophe.
"Like that day four Septembers ago, we once again find ourselves asking, 'How could this have happened?'" said Rep. Bennie Thompson. "The answer is painful, but it must be acknowledged: we simply were unprepared."