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 ...
Read in our Virginia paper this morning that we have students who were displaced from La. colleges here at UVA on guest student status registering for classes.
One week after the storm, students starting alternative education.
Federal Mission
The Air National Guard's federal mission is to maintain well-trained, well-equipped units available for prompt mobilization during war and provide assistance during national emergencies (such as natural disasters or civil disturbances)
This also applies to the National Guard.
She probably got the new talking points, the ones that came out after the ABC poll that shows 55% of the people don't blame Bush, and 75% think they state/local governments messed up.
She is now setting up for the "we were in charge all along, and things went pretty well, and we work well with the federal government.
Because who wants a governor who can't get help from the federal government because she is too concerned with her image?
Actually, it is interesting that we here almost exclusively about helping New Orleans.
This storm devestated three states, and about the only place we here complaining about FEMA is New Orleans.
New Orleans actually came through the hurricane relatively intact. If the brand-new retaining wall on the canal had not collapsed (THERE IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED), the dome people would have been going home tuesday afternoon.
It was the rising floodwaters a day after the storm was over that caused the major problems. And even the mayor said he didn't know it was happening right away.
If FEMA was the problem, we would here these tragic reports from all the states. We don't.
If there had never been a hurricane, and that wall had collapsed the way it did, the situation in New Orleans would probably have been 10 times WORSE than it is, because there would have been no evacuation ahead of time, no warning.
That may be the real story. A terrorist could have sailed a single mid-sized barge up against that wall, blown it up, and probably killed a hundred thosand people in rising floodwaters, and caused billions of dollars of damage.
After days of bickering, Governor Blanco said that she and FEMA are a team now. And now after a second meeting that nearly didn't happen, Governor Blanco also says that she and the president have patched things up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Governor Kathleen Blanco and the former FEMA director, James Lee Witt, join us this morning.
Nice to see you.
Governor Blanco, let's begin with you.
Do you think the president was trying to snub you with that meeting yesterday? I mean, I heard from your spokespeople that you didn't even know about that meeting until you made the call. You saw it on CNN, apparently.
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: Well, in the heat of battle a lot of things happen. And we feel like we're in the heat of battle.
That having been said, we had a great day together. The president came in, and we believe that he's solidly behind our efforts without a doubt.
S. O'BRIEN: Solidly behind your efforts, although there's been much written about kind of a power tussle between the two of you. Specifically, the mayor was telling us about a flight on Air Force One. And he said that you and he and the president were all in a room, and finally you and the president went separately to have a meeting.
Listen to what the mayor told us, ma'am, if you will.
MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: He called me in, in that office, after that. And he said, "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor." I said -- I don't remember exactly what -- two options.
I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision.
S. O'BRIEN: Twenty-four hours. Is that right? Was that what came out of that meeting on the tarmac with the president?
BLANCO: Soledad, the mayor was not in my meeting. And it was -- I'll tell you, it was a meeting that did not affect what was going on out in the field.
They were talking about paper organizations, nothing else. Nothing more. And they gave me a very complicated proposition to look at.
It didn't help our effort in that instant moment. I needed a little time to understand exactly what it meant.
We went forward, all of us. All the resources were there. Nothing stopped. We ended up coming to terms and agreements. And I think that the effort's going great.
S. O'BRIEN: Coming to terms, meaning that you rejected after that 24-hour window, that you didn't have any interest in federalizing the troops or turning power over to the president. Why not hand it over, Madame Governor, when the first five days -- and I think that meeting was on Friday, so the first several days of the recovery were clearly disastrous?
BLANCO: The first five days of the recovery were heroic. We had -- we were the people who took control.
The National Guard took control of the city, brought order out of chaos, because we have law enforcement authority. The federal troops do not. I was very concerned about giving up law enforcement authority.
S. O'BRIEN: Heroic, but by a very small number of people who were on the ground. In fact, I believe it was Friday morning when I was talking to the FEMA director, who had only just seen that there were tens of thousands of people at the convention center. So at least by Thursday, let's say the first four days, those people at the convention center were actually not getting anything. If it was not coordinated...
BLANCO: Soledad...
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, ma'am?
BLANCO: Soledad, the mayor and I were both asking for the same thing. We wanted troops, we wanted food, we wanted water, we wanted helicopters. We asked for that early in the week.
I asked for everything that we had available from the federal government. I got it from the National Guard. I got as much as possible. And the federal effort was just a little slow in coming.
I can't understand why. You know, those are questions that are yet to be answered.
Dissing the military assistance is not helping Blanco. It's probably just dawned on her that she's toast.
Keeping in mind that Governor Blanco is a Democrat, she may have been slow to call in the national guard on a full scale manner.
They had to put plans to transfer elderly and single women with children from the astrodome to cruise ships this morning because some of them didn't want to go. They would have been sleeping in beds. Private showers. Entertainment. This doesn't make sense.
I'm thinking the Black Caucus, Hillary, Lee, Jackson who are all carping to take control of the funds in this thing have somehow gotten to these people and want to keep them coralled like cattle at the astrodome.... I've said it a dozen times the past 5 days.... they are terrified of losing control of this voting block out of Louisiana... they can't afford for them to go red. This has nothing to do with these poor, displaced people... it has to do with the DNC.
"When does Blanco's term expire? Anyone know?
August 29, 2005.
"When does Blanco's term expire? Anyone know?
August 29, 2005.
Bingo. Dead on accurate. It's Rush's observation about McNabb all over again.
"Blanco says Army brought attitude, not resources (absurd)"
That's rich considering Gov. Blanco and Sen. Landreau(sp?) have given nothing but attitude and zero relief.
How dare the military bring their attitude and put an end to the looting and snipers and roaming gangs that her state was ill-prepared to handle. The nerve! We know she wanted some more tea and sympathy - for herself! - while some of her constituents wade waist deep in toxic waters and others had no food and water.
And now that the cavalries of military to police the place and aid workers to help feed, clothe and care for the victims and the volunteers putting their own lives at risk and on hold have ridden in, it's not good enough either.
These folks aren't happy with anything, complaining about what they do not have and when they get stuff it is not enough.
Or not good enough or soon enough. Disheartening, isn't it? Some are truly helpless but many are just biting at the hands that try to feed them. Nanny-state thinking revealed at it's lowest point. She needs to step aside. Maybe Haley Barbour isn't too busy to fill in for her, while still managing his disaster scene, until someone better suited than Gov Weepy can be found.
Ping for Gov Weepy.
No, bc he would still be a Democrat.
I turned off the tube when Blanco appeared this A.M. And, what's up with that Honore guy? He was shown rambling through the streets in NO, telling soldiers to put down their weapons, then having a tete a tete with Nagin. Is he for real military....??!!
Blank-O needs to be recalled, imo.
Just heard a clip that she didn't want to turn law enforcement over to the Guard, what an idiot.
May she rot in hell,, make that NO., the closest thing to hell these days locally.
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