Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, seeking to restore public confidence in his ability to handle a crisis, may appoint a high-profile ``czar'' to oversee the Gulf Coast recovery.

Bush, who yesterday named R. David Paulison, 57, head of the U.S. Fire Administration, as acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replace Michael Brown, is now looking for someone with a telegenic presence as well as proven management and leadership skills to take on the reconstruction job, said an administration aide who asked not to be identified.

Bush will address the nation Thursday on U.S. efforts to help the Gulf Coast states recover, spokesman Scott McClellan said. He will speak from Louisiana at 8 p.m. local time, McClellan told reporters at the White House. He wouldn't preview the speech except to say it would spell out ``the groundwork for the longer- term rebuilding'' of the region.

``He's got to re-establish his leadership capability, and one of the ways he is doing that is by trying to show that he's hands- on in the recovery,'' said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas in Austin. ``He needs to send the signal that he is a hands-on manager to restore flagging confidence.''

Reputation Shaken

Bush's reputation as a crisis manager -- a cornerstone of his re-election campaign last year -- has been shaken by criticism of his administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. The hurricane caused hundreds of deaths and an estimated $100 billion in damage across 90,000 square miles of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama when it hit on Aug. 29.

Bush yesterday signaled a desire to reassure the public about the decisions he's making on the hurricane-relief project. Responding to criticism that the federal government moved too slowly once the storm hit, the president vowed that Congress and the administration will ``take a sober look at the decision-making that went on.''

Bush's job-approval rating is at record lows in several polls in the wake of the storm. A Washington Post/ABC News poll taken Sept. 8-11 among 1,200 adults found 54 percent disapproved of the way Bush is handling the recovery from the hurricane. The poll found that Bush's overall job-approval rating was 42 percent, the lowest of his presidency, in that survey.

Bush's sagging standing after Katrina stands in contrast to the surge in support he enjoyed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Protecting the Country

``After 9/11, Bush had perfect pitch in terms of his personal and policy reaction,'' said Karlyn Bowman, a public-opinion analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based research group. ``He hasn't been so surefooted this time.''

Bush's November 2004 victory over Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts was bolstered by a perception that he would do a better job protecting the country from terrorism. Of the 19 percent of the electorate that picked terrorism as the most important issue of the election, 86 percent voted for Bush and 14 percent for Kerry, according to an exit poll of voters taken for television networks.

Fifty-four percent of those surveyed in the exit poll said the U.S. was safer from terrorism than four years earlier, and 79 percent of those voters backed Bush.

9/11 Comparison

Bush has begun comparing the challenges of Hurricane Katrina to the challenges of the Sept. 11 attacks as a way of showing how seriously he takes the crisis.

``Today, America is confronting another disaster that has caused destruction and loss of life,'' he said in his weekly radio address on Sept. 10. ``This time the devastation resulted not from the malice of evil men, but from the fury of water and wind.''

His address from Louisiana on Thursday would be his first speech on the ravages of Hurricane Katrina and would represent his fourth visit to the region since the storm struck.

The resignation of Brown, 50, in the face of public criticism is unusual for the Bush administration, which resisted outside pressure to remove officials when policies such as the Iraq war and the U.S. treatment of prisoners generated opposition. Those officials who have left, including former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, did so after splitting with Bush on policy issues, not because of public pressure.

Consensus Favors Czar

Brown's departure followed a meeting between the president and House and Senate Republican leaders on Sept. 8 to discuss management of the relief effort. After the meeting, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said they urged Bush to appoint a czar to oversee the rebuilding effort after the initial recovery phase.

``I think it was a consensus among members of Congress,'' Santorum said.

The selection of Paulison as acting FEMA head won praise from some of Brown's critics. ``President Bush is to be applauded for selecting a highly qualified and experienced emergency-management official, as I have called for,'' Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, said in a statement. ``Regaining the confidence of the American people through actions, not press releases, will be job one for David Paulison.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Forsythe in Washington at mforsythe@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 13, 2005 09:52 EDT