"A Picture is worth a Thousand Words"

If that saying is true, as my Mom reminded me so many times, then how many words are hundreds of images worth? And, when those images mutate into the thousands and are projected daily into your family room TV, depicting the horror of war or of a national disaster, what are the consequences of those images upon our country’s leadership, specifically the President of the United States?

Just look at Lyndon Baines Johnson, the President who did not seek a second term because of the daily, gruesome portrayal of the Vietnam War, as grisly images of the fighting flowed into American homes at supper time, night after night. Or ask George W. Bush, who became prey to the same phenomenon, as relentless TV coverage underscored his administration’s failure of how to deal with Iraq once the initial victory was won, and after Saddam and his associates were disposed of.

Fair or not, Iraq, as well as the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Bush presidency were the reasons for Republicans losing control of Congress.

I call it The Katrina Syndrome – being expected to deal successfully with a major national disaster, but not knowing how: The very real American malaise associated with that syndrome may engulf the presidency of Barack Obama – fair or not – as he deals with the effects of the oil spill on the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico.

He knows that. It is why he has been unsuccessfully trying to put distance between himself and the people working to fix the disastrous oil spill that is soiling the Gulf coastlines and destroying the economy of Louisiana.

When the financial and real estate bubbles burst with full fury in the early days of the Obama Administration, the newly-minted president met with one corporate CEO after another and immersed himself and his administration in the search for solutions. Conservatives even say that he overreached in his initiatives to control manufacturing and financial industries.

Yet, we are nearing the end of the second month of the growing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mr. Obama has not once met with, spoken to, or beckoned a single British Petroleum executive to convene with him in the White House to engage in a team effort for a solution.

As the images of the oil spill disaster destroying the coastline and economy of Louisiana continue to dominate TV coverage, The Katrina Syndrome is building momentum and it is heading directly towards the Oval Office in Washington, D. C.