Ho-Hum

From press accounts this morning (USA Today, Washington Post, New York Times), it sounds to me like tonight's presidential speech from New Orleans is going to be one of those much-hyped events which then leads to him saying a whole lot of nothing. The Times says Bush will speak "generally ... on [his] vision for the reconstruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, with the federal government playing a supportive role to what White House officials are calling a 'home-grown' plan that must be created by city and state authorities."

The only ambiguity remaining about tonight's speech seems to be over the question of whether the president will name some over-arching "reconstruction czar" to take control of the rebuilding effort. The Times says press secretary Scott McClellan "indicated" that this would not occur tonight, if at all; USA Today quotes "two Bush advisers with direct knowledge of the speech" as saying that the president is "considering" such a move and "checking whether that would be allowed under federal law."

I'm guessing this speech is going to be a snoozer, another one of those that the network execs later wonder why they preempted reruns.