The bad news: Katrina is the GOOD news.

Of the results in the latest Gallup/CNN/USAToday poll, the following must surely be the worst for the White House: The President's handling of the Katrina aftermath is his HIGHEST approval rating. USAToday reports the following table:

2. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush
is handling the following?

	Approve	Disapprove
The response to Hurricane Katrina	41	57
Overall job approval	40	58
Foreign Affairs	38	58
The economy	35	63
The situation in Iraq	32	67

(See the full results of the poll at USAToday here.)

In short, President Bush's standing with the public is currently being driven down not by the unique and unexpected events of Hurricane Katrina, but by his handling of the economy, foreign affairs and Iraq. That is much worse news than problems at FEMA, and cannot be easily cured with reconstruction programs for the Gulf coast.