While politicians and the media alike play the blame game, the inconvenient facts always seem to get lost, and/or ignored, in the shuffle. Case-and-point: Hurricane Katrina relief. While corpses are floating down the street and starving, homeless people are awaiting their help, high-profile attention-mongers are quick to point the finger at who is responsible for this devastation. Was it President Bush’s fault the levees broke, the poor populous didn’t escape the wrath of nature, and relief efforts were slow to arrive? Or did the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans wait to long to ask for help? Maybe FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) didn’t have a clue what to do, or the Department of Homeland Security—FEMA’s parent organization—was unprepared even after the wake of 9/11, leading us to believe they have accomplished nothing in the last few years.
Let’s review the facts.
August 28:
President Bush declares a State of Emergency for Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina is classified a Cat-5. This allows state and local government of Louisiana to coordinate with FEMA and organize pre-emptive disaster relief efforts. FEMA prepares food, water, and medical supplies and personnel for the disaster. The governor can also mobilize the National Guard at anytime, even without this declaration.
The public is given an optional-mandatory evacuation order. They are told to leave, but can stay if they want or can’t get out. Emergency shelters are established for those who don’t have the means to leave.
Question: If the public was unable to get out on their own, why weren’t they provided the means? How many public transportation vehicles were left idle during this time?
August 29:
Hurricane Katrina hits while stubborn citizens lay-in-wait at home for their chance to brave the storm. (Who’s going to win?)
August 30:
The neglected levees break from the pressure of storm-water run-off. New Orleans is consumed by the flood created by this break.
FEMA and the Red Cross are a mere mile away with food, water, and medical relief; but the state’s Department of Homeland Security (that’s right, the state agency—not the federal) denies FEMA and Red Cross access to the area for fear that the aided public would not leave the area, but rather attract more people looking for aid.
August 31:
The Governor of Louisiana meets with President Bush on Air Force One where the President offers more Federal assistance. The Governor asks for twenty-four hours to decide. (WHAT?!?)
Need I continue? There was, is, and will be a continuous breakdown of good judgment and common sense at the state and local levels of Louisiana. And now the incompetence of these officials to maintain their jurisdiction and protect the public has cost the lives of thousands.
What I want to know is why the President of the United States is to blame for the ineptness of one state of fifty, one city of thousands, and a few officials of millions.
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2 comments:
That's an easy answer: They hate Bush. The mainstream media, the liberal left, Hollywood. Anything that goes wrong in America--whether it be high gas prices, natural disasters, a recall on Firestone tires--they hunt for a connection to the president and then magnify it to suit their hateful needs.
Why do they hate Bush? I think it began with the fiasco in Florida back in 2000. The so-called fraudulent election. There's also his unabashed belief in a higher power. But probably it's his cowboy attitude that liberals can't possibly relate to. He isn't Bill Clinton. To put it simply, they hate him for who he is, not what he does.
Click on my name for Orson Scott Card's answer to your question of why they blame Bush.
Here's an excerpt:
"They Think That Bush Is God"
"Even the most rabid Republican wouldn't ascribe divine powers to President Bush. But the jackals do -- in a negative sense. They mock anything he actually does; but let a hurricane strike the gulf coast and a few levees break, and suddenly he has failed us."
"Of course none of these people really think President Bush could have predicted or prepared any better than he did. There are agencies that are supposed to prepare, and they did their job up to any reasonable standard. Only idiots would really believe that any part of this disaster or its aftermath was the fault of the President."
"The trouble is, they think we are the idiots. They think that if they loudly ask, "Why wasn't President Bush ready for this?" the American people will swallow the implied accusation and blame him for not protecting us from ... from the weather."
"Bush was elected President, not God."
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