Posted on 09/06/2005 3:38:52 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
BATON ROUGE - Even as teams of engineers worked to patch ruptured levees in New Orleans, a political breach opened between Gov. Kathleen Blanco and President Bush over who is in charge of the post-Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.
One flashpoint came over the weekend, when Blanco said she rebuffed an attempt by the White House to seize control of the mounting military presence in Louisiana, including thousands of state National Guard forces under her authority. Then Bush made an unusual return visit to the state Monday, just days after surveying the damage - a trip that members of Blanco's staff said caught them by surprise and caused a certain level of consternation.
"We had no idea the president was coming," said Blanco's communications director, Robert Mann, adding that the governor was forced to cancel a trip to visit evacuees in Houston so she could meet with Bush.
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In the game of political maneuvering for control between Blanco, a Democrat, and Bush, a Republican, the biggest chess pieces are the 13,268 National Guard troops from 29 states under the governor's command - with another 7,845 on the way - and the 7,000 active-duty troops who began arriving Monday under command of the regular Army and the president.
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Blanco said that when the plain-spoken, cigar-chomping Honore showed up in New Orleans late last week, she thought that her worries about a lack of federal troops and resource were over. Honore quickly became a media darling and the take-charge face of the federal government in New Orleans, barking out orders to surprised National Guards members who aren't even under his control.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
EAT ONE BEAN AND YOU'LL GET THE WHOLE BURRITO!
That's funny, you'd think Texas would be mentioned on that map as providing some aid.
The Nat'l Guard in NOLA are, and have been under Blanco's control. They are obliged to follow her orders.
Only reason the military has an attitude is because they have to deal with dip_hit govenor and mayor like Blanko and Nagin.
What happened to Blameco's "locked and loaded"
speech. Now attitude is bad? This is one is a loon.
"I'm so happy that the president came down here," Nagin said of Bush's Friday visit to Louisiana in an interview with CNN. "He came down and saw it, and he put a general on the field. His name is General Honore. And when he hit the field, we started to see action."
But Nagin had harsh words for his state's leaders, telling CNN: "What the state was doing, I don't frigging know. But I tell you, I am pissed. It wasn't adequate." The New Orleans Democrat said he urged Bush to meet privately with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco during the visit. The meeting took place aboard Air Force One, he said.
After reviewing the crisis with Gov. Blanco, Bush summoned Nagin for a private chat - where, according to Nagin, Bush explained: "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor. I said . . . I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision."
Reacting to the governor's footdragging, Nagin lamented: "It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out."
"It didn't happen, and more people died."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1478211/posts
Looks like Governor Blanco may soon find herself very lonely.
estrogenitis
....i love it to be sure....but it has better uses than governing
NY already has a large contingent there...NYPD; building inspectors, etc. cnn needs to update their map.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-metzgar4sep04,0,710998.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary
Louisiana's poverty politics
Katrina's aftermath lays bare the state's dirty secret: its ongoing failure to address the needs of its neediest citizens.
By Emily Metzgar, EMILY METZGAR is a columnist for the Shreveport Times. She writes a blog at www.emilymetzgar.blogspot.com.
IF A GOVERNMENT'S primary responsibility is to protect its citizens, then the heartbreaking aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans illustrates the utter abdication of that responsibility. Was the evacuation order for New Orleans issued in time? Sure — but only for people with sufficient money in their pockets and a car in their garage.
It was no secret that there was going to be a problem. As early as 2002, the New Orleans Times-Picayune speculated about "the big one." The newspaper noted, "Once it's certain a major storm is about to hit, evacuation offers the best chance for survival. But for those who wait, getting out will become nearly impossible as the few routes out of town grow hopelessly clogged. And 100,000 people without transportation will be especially threatened."
In the years that followed, officials sought to anticipate a number of travel woes for residents with cars. It wasn't perfect, but thanks to smart traffic management, many hundreds of thousands of people were able to flee the area in advance of Katrina.
But the state never bothered to address the issue of the 100,000 people without cars — among the poorest people in the state — who were unable to leave no matter how badly they might have wanted to. The tragedy unfolding on television over the last few days has provided graphic testimony of that.
How could that have been allowed to happen? The Louisiana political machine in general, and the New Orleans political machine in particular, are famous for their ability to turn out the vote at election time. Legend has it that vans magically show up to transport voters to the polls and that meals or money can just as magically appear as rewards for votes well cast. Where were those vans when it came time to flee the city? Where are the hot meals and cold drinks now?
THE ANSWER HAS to do with the Louisiana government's long-standing lack of interest in the state's neediest residents. By nearly every socioeconomic measure available, the gap between our "haves" and our "have-nots" is stark. A few examples: The state's indigent defender program is in desperate need of reform, but change is being blocked by powerful political players with a vested interest in maintaining the system as it is. The high school dropout rate — already tied for worst in the nation — is rising despite much-touted accountability efforts that still fail to keep kids in school. The per-capita prisoner incarceration rate is the highest in the country without the accompanying high rates of crime, recent events in New Orleans notwithstanding. Kids Count, the annual ranking of child well-being, ranks Louisiana 49th for its overall performance, and no wonder: Nearly 50% of the state's children live in poverty (as do 15% of its residents over 65). In New Orleans, the Census Bureau reported that 27.9% of the population lives in poverty — more than double the national average.
In Louisiana's most recent legislative session, the state saw an influx of tax revenues from the oil industry, increasing the state budget by more than $1 billion over the year before. But despite being flush with new money, somehow there wasn't enough to provide a much-needed salary increase for the state's public schoolteachers. Instead, state money went to legislators' pet projects, a nonsensical reservoir creation program and construction of a convention center hotel in the northwest corner of the state.
Clearly this was an indefensible allocation of resources given the importance of quality public education for any successful poverty reduction plan. Instead, Louisiana's plan for poverty has been limited to a series of so-called summits at which officials talk piously about the problem while doing nothing substantive.
Unfortunately, Louisiana's response to Katrina now appears to be coming from the same playbook.
For years, Louisiana has failed to address the needs of its poorest citizens — despite politicians' reliance on that same population to maintain the political status quo at the state, parish and municipal level. The dirty secret of Louisiana's poverty politics is now broadcast for the world to see. At this point, the only question is how much longer the state's unwillingness — or inability — to serve vast segments of its population will continue to be tolerated.
Blanko Blanco is getting as bad as Naggin Nagin.
I really find it pathetic that Blanco is so ineffective she had to bring in Witt. I find it outrageous that Witt is not being used to help in the rescue of the city, but he has been conducting photo op interviews to bash the current response and bash FEMA during recivery operations. What an ass.
He is liked by the media not only because he is black, but he talks a good game and is all sizzle, no steak. He is a typical loudmouth with really nothing to say.
He and Blanco to me share the bulk of any blame here. I think they realize this and are trying to shift the blame early to get a head start.
Its truly incredible how inept these people are.
The simple fact is this - had they simply stocked the dome and convention center with security, food, water, and porter potties, most people would be fine waiting a few days for evacuation. This failure was by the mayor, not the feds.
If she's eligible for re-election, I'm willing to bet she wins re-election. Why? The media's storyline of this catastrophe is that it's all Bush's fault. The governor, mayor and other local officials are being excused. And the Dimbulbs in Louisiana will buy it hook, line and sinker.
You watch. By the time this is all over, Blanco and Nagin will be made out to be heroes. Barf!!!!
What do you expect?
They're used to a government check.
Look at who runs LA (Governor, state government- http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Senators/ - Mayor of NO, Head of NO police, NO city counsel…..) Why did the flooding happen in the first place and then why is the death toll is so high? This should be asked to these people in charge, not the President of the Untied States, who is NOT intricately involved with the Levees in LA, the evacuation plan for NO, the police of NO nor does he or should he know how many school busses are parked 1.2 miles from the astrodome. But the mayor should, the governor should and the chief of police should know these answers.
New Orleans lived with the rats, quite literally. They voted into office a bunch of losers who promised them free hand me outs, people who tell them “I’m black, vote for me”, now they’re paying for an incompetent leadership. But in long lasting liberal tradition, they will blame it on global warming, or someone else. Maybe “It wuz da man” holding them down? Jesse Jackson is already telling them that!
Red6
I knew the President was going back on Monday and I live in Alberta--I even heard it on CTV news and I hardly ever watch tv news anymore. These people really need to spend some time at Free Repulic so they can know what's really going on!
Wow, it's like she thinks none of us have TV sets, none of us have any idea what happened the last week, and will listen to whatever she says?
I disagree. The MSM definately isn't going to let the Bush Administration off the hook, but the worm is starting to turn here. The MSM simply cannot hide the truth here largely because of the smart people in the "new media".
What the Democrats and the MSM are trying to spin here is so out of sync with reality that it's becoming increasing obvious that nobody's buying it. The exchange between Nagan and President Bush a few posts up from yours now has an entirely different spin on it than it did yesterday.
In the end, FEMA and the President will end up with residual blame simply because of the mindless hatred liberals have for the President.
Nagin probably got elected because of looks, personality (fun kind of guy), race and he dresses "good'. He strikes me as a real Hollywood stereotype.
Well well this is news. I didn't know that ALL of the guards from the other states were under command of the governor. If there were not enough guardsman in place to help out then it is entirely her fault.
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