Bush Says He'll Find Out What Went Wrong

Associated Press ^ | Sep 06 11:32 AM US/Eastern | WILL LESTER

[Brian Mosely]

Buffeted by criticism over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush said Tuesday he will oversee an investigation into what went wrong and why _ in part to be sure the country could withstand more storms or attack.

Bush also announced he is sending Vice President Dick Cheney to the Gulf Coast region on Thursday to help determine whether the government is doing all that it can.

"Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people," the president said after a meeting at the White House with his Cabinet on storm recovery efforts.

[frankjr]

[American Butterfly]

Double the ewwwwwwwww!...lol

[E. Pluribus Unum]

There must be alot of people here that don't care about the Repubs running in 2008.

You don't have the slightest idea what "federalism" means, do you?

Evidently, like all Communists, you would be much more comfortable with a supremely powerful central government.

[colorado tanker]

The buck stops on Bush's desk for federal matters.

Would you kindly explain why the buck stops on Bush's desk for state and local matters? Was he supposed to suspend republican government in Louisiana and New Orleans and fire the Governorette and Nonmayor?

[AmericanInTokyo]

I strongly encourage Freepers to start making the names of these two, Nagin and Blanco, into VERBS.

With enough effort, these two will make it into American slang and lexicon.

To show in business or politics or administration someone not taking responsibility and waiting for help from the higher ups, without using all their own resources first, and then blaming because of the delays afterwords.

Such as:

"Hey did you hear about Stephenson down in Logistics and Shipping? Man, he sure pulled a blanco last week. Night manager is going to have his scalp!"

or

"If you naginate the Action Plan from Johnson and the Board, Flores, why I swear I'll send my report over to HR and you'll be lucky if you have a job by next weeek. Got it?"

[TheCornerOffice]

...almost all the usual Dems in the hospital had critism for the governor and the mayor.

I'm sitting in a Panera Bread location in Atlanta and listening to a conversation one table over between a bunch of female seniors. They are ALL putting the blame squarely on the mayor and governor and talking about how the feds can't just take over without being asked to by the governor. I think all the attempts to "just blame Bush" are going down in flames.

[spanalot]

"You don't have the slightest idea what "federalism" means, do you?"

Do you have me confused with someone else? My point is that

- NEVER expect the gubmint to save you - food , fuel, water and firearms.

- Its a foregone conclusion that the state and city f'ed up but Homeland has no excuses for the Red Cross and "Its Thursday - where am I?"

- The gubmint is too big and its broken - DOWNSIZE now.

- We have erased incredible gains we have made against Hollywoood and the MSM by allowing pictures of Oprah and Travolta instead of NG and Red Cross handing out water, food, and insulin shots.

[dfwgator]

My point is that Bush is not going to point fingers publicly, he'll do it behind the scenes.

[dfwgator]

Yep, expect the MSM to stop Bush-bashing and start saying "now is not the time to point fingers." When you hear that, you know the jig is up for the Rats.

[GOPJ]

Are you trying to say that Bush doesn't care? And that the National Guard doesn't know how to set up a supply line?

No, Bush cares. But there were problems in making this thing work that are inherent in a bureaucratic system. I spoke to a friend last night, FEMA trained, police captain of a large city in my state, and he said his city sat for days, ready to send cops in to help but they had to wait for an "invite". Otherwise they would have been considered vigilantes. When the mayor wasn't able to get people out or supplies in, Walmart moved truckloads in on a back road. The national guard's wonderful - and so is Bush, but there was a breakdown here that goes to the core of a rotten system.

I live in a hurricane area - where they've projected thousands will die if we have a direct hit. Now I fear emergency systems that should work might not because politicians have to follow rules that they might or might not know about.

I don't want "on the job training" to happen in my city if we get hit.

Why not set up agreements with sister cities that are not in a state of disaster to bring in police and firemen as soon as the area is considered a disaster?

[colorado tanker]

My point is that Bush is not going to point fingers publicly, he'll do it behind the scenes.

I agree with that.

I think the public backlash will begin fairly soon. I'm way past tired of the public whining, complaining, finger-pointing and Bush-bashing.

[dfwgator]

I believe it has already started, especially now that we have conservative talk radio pointing out the things that were previously only mentioned in the blogosphere.

You can see the panic starting to set in on those who thought they could use this tragedy as a "GOTCHA!" against the President. Expect them to start saying, "well let's not point fingers," and start giving some props to Bush. I believe Blanco has already done that.

[martin_fierro]

Bush Says He'll Find Out What Went Wrong

Yoo hoo, Mr. President.

Over here:

[pollyannaish]

Because he is a man of character and realizes when you hold the highest office in the land, the buck stops on your desk.

Rather than blaming...he will get the job done and then lead an effort to see what went wrong. The facts will speak for themselves. Even if they blow back on his administration. (But for the most part, they won't.)

If the state and local officials had acted with character first, rather than blaming everyone but themselves, and taken responsibility...this would be a different issue.

I personally believe that Blanco and Co. were more concerned about the politics and wanted this to be a big win for team. Therefore, decisions were made to shore up her own "heroic" status, rather than a "whatever it takes" kind of approach. What we have now, is the predictable fallout from that.

As frustrating as it is to us the President is "a patient man." He will take the heat, to do the right thing. In the end, the President will not lose this. He never does.

[pollyannaish]

Very interesting Peach.

I am going to make a prediction right now. The dems are going to try to throw Nagin over the side of the boat in an effort to protect Blanco.

As a result, Nagin will defend the President and his response. In the end, this will NOT blow back on the President.

[colorado tanker]

I agree with all you say about our President. He does the right thing.

I just wish he would quit apologizing for things that aren't his fault.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Cheney!! This may actually start to become entertaining to watch (as opposed to gut-wrenching).

[livius]

I think the difference is that Nagin was just incompetent - but Blanco was calculatedly political. They are both over-emotional nutcases who shouldn't be in government, but that's a whole 'nother thing.

[Cboldt]

NAGIN: The president looked at me. I think he was a little surprised. He said, "No, you guys stay here. We're going to another section of the plane, and we're going to make a decision."

He called me in that office after that. And he said, "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor." I said -- and I don't remember exactly what. There were two options. I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision.

Speculation is that 1 option was ...

The Bush Administration attempted to invoke" The Insurrection Act" (Title 10 USC, Sections 331-335) in order to provide a strong viable law enforcement presence in Louisiana and protect military personnel (title 10) against possible prosecution. This act allows the president to use U.S. military personnel at the request of a state legislature or governor to suppress insurrections. However, the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana would have had to state on the record that they had lost control of the situation in New Orleans and that a state of "anarchy" existed. Obviously, the politicians of Louisiana were unwilling to pay that political price.

http://www.PoliPundit.com/

My guess is that the other option was to Federalize the National Guard - likely a similar action, but not involving the use of active duty military. In short, both options discussed dealt with prompt restoration of civil order, but Blanco NEVER wants to admit that civil order was lost.

Hence, the media focus is shifting to the slow response and is ignoring the fact that civil unrest was serious, and rampant, and casued a significant part of the delay in relief response. The Loisian authorities told the Red Cross not to come in after the hurricane, and the reason given was civil disorder.

[pollyannaish]

As a wife, I can tell you that one of the best ways to calm down a fight that is unproductive, is to apologize. It doesn't mean you are taking the blame, it means you are sorry it is happening. I have both apologized, and been apologized to in this manner.

I believe that is what the President is doing. Cooling the rhetoric by apologizing, getting the job done and then when the emotions are checked a bit, and common sense and logic have returned, he can deal with the rest. A classic case of diffusing the situation.

Of course, for dems the logic and common sense is already lacking...but for the rest of the country it is important.