November 18, 2004

Bush Takes Blame for Tomato Crisis, Promises Swift Action

Analysts Say President Doesn't Need Yet Another Debacle

The Bush Administration said yesterday that it accepts full responsibility for the current national shortage of tomatoes and announced a series of steps to control the crisis and find a long-term solution.

"The president has authorized me to say that he and his administration accept full responsibility for the tomato shortage," Presidential Press Secretary Scott McClellan said at a news briefing. "The president said that in prior administrations and during his administration, too, there have been ample warnings of the danger of a tomato shortage, but not enough has been done to prepare. He wants the American people to know he won't let it happen again."

The White House later announced two high profile initiatives.

An interagency Tomato Response Task Force composed of government officials will focus on restoring a steady supply of tomatoes to consumers and get tomato prices under control as quickly as possible.

Within the next week, the president will appoint the members of a National Tomato Commission, a panel of outside experts modeled in its scope and mandate after the 9/11 Commission that investigated the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The tomato crisis, in which prices have doubled in recent weeks and shoppers in grocery stores and at green markets have gotten into fist fights, has been likened to the gasoline shortages of the 1970s. Five people in Rifle, Colorado were hospitalized Monday after a gun fight erupted inside a grocery store following a dispute over who should purchase the store's last four tomatoes.

Political analysts in Washington were startled by the unusual presidential assumption of blame for a national emergency. Many were sent scurrying to history books or university scholars in search of an example of a president assuming blame for a national emergency. Few examples could be found.

Analysts also struggled to understand why President Bush is so willing to shoulder the tomato crisis blame.

"Clearly, they want to get out ahead of this one, even though they've just won the election," said Raymond Owens of the Long and Short Institute, a Washington think tank. "It makes you wonder just how much worse this situation could become."

At the Responsive Government Foundation, Lloyd Babington said that the Bush Administration is seeking to preempt tomatoes as "yet another crisis" for an administration weighed down with difficult situations.

"They have Iraq, and however much they try to spin it toward good news, it's a situation that is slowly slipping out of control," Babington said. "You have the flu vaccine debacle. You have Osama Bin Laden still very much on the loose. You have the deficit. The dollar is in the tank. To get his second-term agenda through, he has to have the goodwill of the people, even if his party controls Congress."

An Administration official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Bush doesn't need another crisis. "A crisis, particularly one as supercharged as tomatoes, tends to gnaw away at the voter mandate," the official said. "Best thing to do is admit you blew it, get out in front, and move on to more important things. And hope Leno and Letterman find other things to joke about."

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