Just to sum up what I've been saying: Bush and his advisers saw Katrina coming and thought not "crisis" or "tragedy" but "opportunity." Bush has been politicizing the storm -- i.e., trying to use it to gain ground he lost in the polls -- since before it made landfall. And he's been grandstanding ever since. Remember that when someone on the right accuses you -- us -- of politicizing the storm by criticizing the administration.

John DiIulio can't be quoted often enough on the Bush approach:

"There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus," says DiIulio. "What you've got is everything -- and I mean everything -- being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."

And it may be working. The lead of this story (about a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll partly conducted since Katrina hit) suggests continued dissatisfaction with Bush on a number of specific issues, but the bottom line is this:

Overall, 45 percent said they approve of how Bush is handling his job while 52 percent disapproved. That is an improvement from 40 percent and 56 percent in an Aug. 22-26 poll....

To some extent, Bush's bounceback can be attributed to the fact that at 40% he may have hit the "floor" provided by Bush-lovers -- the large chunk of the population who'll never abandon him because they hate Democrats and liberals and coastal sophisticates, love Jesus and NASCAR and country music, and think, Bush is one of us. It also helps Bush that Katrina has largely driven Iraq from the headlines.

But I think his decision to take ownership of the tragedy is doing what it was intended to do. Yeah, he's being criticized by the media. That's not going to hurt him. He'll be hurt only if ordinary citizens and local officials blame his administration for how the recovery goes -- and if that anger is widely reported and treated as justifiable. For now, though, he's playing Daddy, feeling our pain; moreover, he has a new 9/11 he can use as an excuse for a lot of things he's screwed up. So I think he'll be above 50% soon -- at least briefly, until Katrina fades from the headlines.

(Poll story via DU.)

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P.S.: Yes, I'm reading Atrios and others who are cataloging the ineptitude and mismanagement of the response. But I've also been watching TV news -- and there it's all just a tragedy. As long as this is described as just an awful act of God, with Bush purring soothing words, his administration will get away with incompetence -- and he'll rise in the polls.