The “Obama's Katrina” meme continues to thrive as an odd media house of mirrors, in that journalists still can't find anybody of importance or stature to suggest the government's response to BP's oil catastrophe is a lot like the Bush administration's historically inept response to Hurricane Katrina. But that still isn't stopping journalists from pushing the angle.

And specifically, not journalists at Politico.

I wrote about this troubling media trend yesterday and pointed out that after looking at a mountain of news coverage from last week when the “Obama's Katrina” was born, that I could not find a single disaster or emergency response expert who made the Katrina connection. I couldn't even find Republican members of Congress making that charge against the White House.

Instead, it was Beltway journalists who connected the imaginary dots. And it's journalists this week who are still trying to keep the smear campaign alive.

Note how Politico dealt with the topic [emphasis added]:

So there was a “little bit of panic,” according to one administration official, when White House aides sensed the oil spill narrative getting away from them last week. The White House was particularly alarmed by the rash of stories comparing the Obama administration's initial response with President George W. Bush's sluggish response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

See, “Obama's Katrina” has now been established as fact. Meaning, Politico noted a “rash of stories” made the unflattering comparison between the response to the oil spill and the one to Katrina. But again, nowhere in those “rash of stories,” did journalists ever actually find anyone who was making direct comparison.

Instead, journalists pointed to faceless (imaginary?) “critics” and “some people,” and then just kept repeating the talking point. And now, five days later, journalists refer to the comparison as an established fact, even though the only people originally making the claim were journalists. (Later followed by partisan AM talkers and the Opposition Party at Fox News.)

Worse, look at Politico's lede:

The ferocious oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening President Barack Obama's reputation for competence, just as surely as it endangers the Gulf ecosystem.

That's just pure conjecture. Politico couldn't-- and didn't-- point to any evidence that Obama's reputation for competence was endangered by the oil spill. So now, not only did journalists invent the “Obama's Katrina” attack based on no evidence, they're claiming, also without any evidence, that the phony charge (that they concocted) is taking a toll.

Welcome to the “Obama's Katrina” mouse of mirrors. Or, who needs the RNC research department when you've got the Beltway press corps?