For years, we’ve said that our image in the Muslim world was largely going to come down to whether we could bring real democracy to Iraq. That has been a difficult task and while the exact outcome is still unknown it looks increasingly unlikely that America will be able to deliver the results it promised the Iraqi people before the invasion.

But the past two weeks have given America a unique chance to make a real difference in the hearts and minds of the Muslim world outside of Iraq. Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country in a crossroads on its pathway to democracy and how the U.S. acts at this critical juncture will be remembered for a long time to come. It’s therefore unfortunate that President Bush has responded to the crisis in Pakistan with Katrina-style absence and incompetence.

It took days after the emergency rule was issued for President Bush to make a public statement demonstrating concern. Three days late, President Bush did finally make a forceful statement asking Musharraf to take off his uniform, but only days later and before any real progress was made, Secretary of State Rice was on This Week saying “Pakistan is a country that has a come a long way from 1999, and the military coup has come a long way from 2001 when it pledged to root out extremism.” Rice’s meager criticism of Pakistan was that “it is not a perfect situation.” How’s that for diplomatic understatement? President Bush apparently agrees with Rice, telling reporters on Saturday of the “positive steps” taken by the President and calling Musharraf an “indispensable” ally against extremists. To me, the President’s words sounded a lot like “you’re doing a heck of a job Brownie.”

And the comparison between the handling of emergency rule in Pakistan and the recovery effort after Katrina may be apt for an even more important reason: how it makes us feel about the U.S. government. Just as President Bush’s response to Katrina confirmed all of our worst fears about his government – that it was isolated, incompetent, and uncaring about the American working class – so the administration’s current response (or lack thereof) to what is happening in Pakistan may confirm the worst fears of the Muslim world.  It may confirm to them that America is not really seeking to promote democracy in the Muslim world, but instead is an occupying force, that is willing to promote democracy only in so far as it serves our very short-term interests. That would be yet another tragedy for American power, because what we need now more than ever in Iraq is trust and partnership to solve a challenge that has no military solution.

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