Posted on 09/01/2005 9:31:38 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005 10:52 a.m. EDT Teary Gov. Kathleen Blanco 'Overwhelmed'
The performance of Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco in the first days after the Katrina disaster has some wondering whether she's up to the daunting task of guiding her state as its largest city struggles to recover.
Blanco "has come across as a nice person," noted the New York Post's Deborah Orin, but she seems "overwhelmed instead of inspiring."
Gov. Blanco did little to reassure observers during a press conference on Tuesday, when she seemed on the verge of bursting into tears. "The magnitude of the situation is untenable," she told reporters. "It's just heartbreaking."
The next day Blanco told ABC's "Good Morning America": "This whole situation is totally overwhelming."
Louisiana Democrats are putting the best face possible on Blanco's performance.
"She's obviously affected tremendously by the emotional impact of the devastation," former Sen. John Breaux told the Washington Post. "I think she's doing everything humanly possible to bring it together."
Asked whether Blanco sounded discouraged by the havoc wrought by Katrina, Breaux told the paper: "No, I think she was on top of it. But considering the circumstances, with a whole city underwater, it's hard to be calm, cool and collected."
Some compared the beleaguered governor to her Mississippi counterpart, Haley Barbour - who has so far offered a more reassuring presence.
Noted Orin: Gov. Barbour vowed early on to deal "aggressively and ruthlessly" with looters in his state.
Gov. Blanco, on the other hand, intitially suggested that stopping rampant looting in New Orleans wasn't a priority, telling reporters Tuesday: "We dont like looters one bit, but first and foremost is search and rescue.
As conditions continued to deteriorate, however, Blanco changed her tune, announcing late Wednesday: "We will restore law and order. What angers me the most is that disasters like this often bring out the worst in people. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior."
Another person who's "convictions" sway with the wind direction and polls. Just what we need in an emergency.
Back to basics:
Lead, follow, of get the Hell out of the way .....
Works for me.
And so would I!!!!!!
....but we elected you our governor. not the state's drama queen.
He said he had a house and friends in N.O., the msnbc anchorette plugged his Huffington blog and then lead him to his attack on the feds and his appparent role of speaking for the mayor and governor who were "holding back" their anger.
He (Harry Shearer) implied the feds were not doing enough, did not fill sand bags soon enough, and criticized the Army Corps of Engineers and said, (paraphrasing) "it's called contingency planning" (as if the Army corps didn't know what that was.) It was sickening but as we all know, hardly anyone watches that channel. It was also implied that he was speaking for the mayor and governor.
People are dying because of her incompetence. I think the Mayor, blanco-all of them should be forced to resign and prosecuted.
It is not sweet to allow her citizens to die of dehydration and starvation in New Orleans.
What is Senator Blutarsky in all of this?
Peter Principle poster child
He he, I sent Kathleen Harris flowers after that election, and I'm a woman.
She was tough and won my admiration.
On 9/11 didn't Rudy head straight for the WTC?
A little personal leadership in the beginning might have saved a life or two and might have recast the mindset of thoses stranded.
"Did you see that idiotic little school girl, Mary Landrieu, next to Blanco at the press conference? She looked like that she was going to burst into tears and have a breakdown."
Has Landrieu always had that twitch to her face, where it looks like she is trying to smile or grin on one side of her face? She did look like a deer in the headlights at the press conference.
End of story, NOT.
Not sweet at all. She is far from sweet and nice and now she wants us to feel sorry for her, to 'feel her pain'. Meanwhile, her citizens are in a grave situation.
My pardons....it's been awhile since I'd seen it....
Sure it is , you just don't want to admit the obvious.
Good idea, but unconstitutional.
Rudi could just be asked to head up the effort and achieve the same results.
Probably would save several thousand lives
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