Critical Forum Hurricane Katrina and Bush’s Vacation: Contexts for Decoding Eileen R. Meehan In the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans, Bush’s Vacation sped across the Internet (Abcarian, 2005). Apparently the work of an anonymous photoshopper, the composite used a street scene in flooded New Orleans, with African-Americans in waist-high water, as the backdrop against which a triumphant Bush pere raised his fishing rod and an equally triumphant Bush fils held up a large bass. Like the myth of Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the composite uses a lie to tell a larger truth. This essay describes Bush’s Vacation and then considers three of its truths. Looking at Bush’s Vacation Upon opening the jpeg, the eye is drawn to the bright colors and sharply resolved images of the two men. The left foreground of the composite establishes that the Bushes are on a boat with the father, George H. W. Bush (GHWB), on the left, and son George W. Bush (GWB) on the right. GHWB wears a tan cap, orange jacket, and dark pants; GWB, dark reflective sunglasses, a rich brown jacket, and light blue pants. The son’s left arm is behind his father’s upstretched arm, which holds the rod. GWB holds the bass high in his right hand. GWHB smiles, his mouth open; GWB grins, showing his teeth. They seem elated by the catch. Behind them are muddy waters. In the far background, behind GWHB’s head, rise light colored, multi-storey buildings. As the eye sweeps across the far background, from left to the right, the buildings pick up more color, with the fishing rod and GWB’s head intersecting red lettering. GWB’s outstretched hand parallels a storefront with windows topped with a band of black paint with blue letters mirroring the color of GWB’s sunglasses. The black band continues to the right hand edge of the image at the same level but atop a strip of yellow paint from which a yellow sign extends over the flooded street. Eileen R. Meehan is Lemuel Heidel Brown Chair in Media and Political Economy at the Manship School of Mass Communications, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70808, USA. Email: emeeha1@lsu.edu ISSN 0739-3180 (print)/ISSN 1479-5809 (online) # 2006 National Communication Association DOI: 10.1080/07393180600571079 Critical Studies in Media Communication Vol. 23, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 85  /90