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."
Send Rudy to LA.
Politics aside, does anyone think Richardson in NM wouldn't have been able to deal with this better? I think he'd have done okay. Blanco is inept and this isn't partisan at all to note.
Meanwhile Barbour is skyrocketing to the top of my list, with Perry bringing up the rear in dealing with the overflow of people. The other Governors are doing a good job but these two in separate capacities are rising extemely well to the occasion.
"Gov. Blanco did little to reassure observers during a press conference on Tuesday, when she seemed on the verge of bursting into tears."
There is a Vonage commercial here....boo-hoo, boo-hoo-hoo....boo-hoo, boo-hoo-hoo....
No flames :) But we obviously disagree on the definition :)
The Rudy in this is Hayley Barbour.
Where's Huey Long when they needed him.
History is written about the big moments. Gulliani's term as mayor had some notable successes but was marred by personal issues. However, his response to 9/11 made him "America's Mayor" and that's how he'll go into the history books.
Blanco has reserved her place in the history books, too. Right alongside Mrs. O`Leary's cow.
And at you next press conference, Governor, stamp your foot and tell them you REALLY mean it this time.
She should resign if she herself doubts her ability.
But according to Harry Shearer (Dr. Burns from The Simpsons cartoon - and resident Hurricane expert at MSNBC last night) she and the mayor of N.O. are doing all they can to (paraphrasing) "hold back their anger" at the federal government (e.g., Bush). *Barf*
I read somewhere that she is a friend of Fidel Castro; maybe she'll feel better when she gets his telegram of condolences and a box of cigars.
when did you hear he was in BR? he, to my understanding has been in NO at or near the dome. landrieu mentioned this morning nagan was in NO.
if your right, your right.
Aaaaah, isn't that sweet? I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Puh-lease. 'Nice' would have been putting aside her fears of the public disapproval and going ahead with an orderly and early evacuation plan. A forced one. Nice would have been not caring if she was wrong and the storm missed them and folks complained. Nice would be taking the tough line and ordering people out whether they liked it or not and brushing off their negative comments. She's been anything but nice. And now the people are stranded and reacting to the stress and, boo hoo, she's 'overwhelmed'.
"When the s**t hits the fan, the call for the SOBs." Adm. Ernest King said this after Pearl Harbor and luckily for us we had some great SOBs in Europe and in the Pacific. However, the SOBs today have been cashiered or nuetered.
Heck, Blanco's Attorney General was on TV justifying the looting. And while we all understand people need food and water to survive, this stuff started hours after the hurricane hit. We have a city now out of control because these people didn't think this was a serious concern at the time.
There are just so many things these people failed at, including Blanco and the mayor/police of New Orleans to enforce the mandatory evacs. From what I understand, there may be as many as 300,000 residents who stayed behind, in a coastal city with a Cat-5 bearing down on them.
My first impression of her reaction to the hurricane was she should be at home baking cookies. She looked like a deer in the headlights during the news conference.
Heck, get a real woman.
LOL, you beat me to it.
What an asshole (pardon my profanity)
As much as it pains me to say anything positive about that dirtbag Castro, when hurricanes hit Cuba, he evacuated people from the coastal areas. And from all accounts it was very successful. Of course Castro doesn't have to worry about those pesky details, like separation of powers and jurisdictions.
I heard about an hour or so on one of the news channels that Nagin was in Baton Rouge. Perhaps he was just there for a meeting, but that's not the impression I got. I've certainly seen no video of him walking around New Orleans or interacting with refugees.
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