Posted on 09/07/2005 9:14:35 PM PDT by CaptainScott
George Bush and the federal government are not to blame for the disaster we have witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In fact, the primary responsibility for the disaster response lies with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and other local officials.
Yet leading Democrats and their allies in the major media are clearly using this disaster for political purposes and ignoring one obvious fact.
This fact – which needs to be repeated and remembered – is that in our country, state and local governments have primary responsibility in dealing with local disasters.
The founding fathers devised a federal system of government – one that has served us remarkably well through great disasters that have befallen America over more than two centuries.
But if we believe the major TV networks, George Bush, FEMA and the Republicans in Congress are all to blame for the current nightmare.
Let's remember that FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was created only in 1979. It was formed to coordinate and focus federal response to major disasters – to "assist" local and state governments.
Common sense suggests that local and state governments are best able to prepare and plan for local disasters.
Is a Washington bureaucrat better suited to prepare for an earthquake in San Francisco, a hurricane in Florida, or a terrorist act in New York?
After the Sept. 11 attacks against the World Trade Center, no one suggested that the Bush administration should have been responsible for New York's disaster response or that federal agents should have been involved in the rescue of those trapped in the buildings.
Last year, four major hurricanes slammed into Florida. Governor Jeb Bush led the disaster response and did a remarkable job, with nothing happening like what we have seen in New Orleans.
The primary response in disasters has always come from local communities and state governments.
First responders and the manpower to deal with emergencies come from local communities: police, fire and medical. Under our federal system, these local departments answer to local authorities, not those in Washington. These first responders are not even under federal control, nor do they have to follow federal orders.
In addition to local responders, every state in the Union has a National Guard.
State National Guards answer first to the governor of each state, not to the president. The National Guard exists not to defend one state from an invasion by another state, but primarily for emergencies like the one we have witnessed in New Orleans and in other areas impacted by Katrina. (See: http://www.arng.army.mil/about_us/organization/command_structure.asp)
Tim Russert and the Blame Game
The media would have you believe that this disaster was worsened by a slow response from President Bush and his administration, though the primary responsibility for disaster response has always been with local and state governments.
It is true that federal response was not as fast as it could have been. The president himself has acknowledged that fact.
But the press has focused on the first 48 hours of federal response, not uttering a word about the fact that New Orleans had 48 hours of warning that a major Category 4 or 5 would make landfall near the city, yet local officials apparently did little to prepare.
Obviously, Gov. Blanco did not effectively deploy her state's National Guard.
And New Orleans' city leaders did almost nothing to evacuate the portion of the population with no transportation. In failing to follow their own evacuation plan, these officials did little to pre-position food, water and personnel to deal with the aftermath.
I was surprised Sunday to watch Tim Russert, on his show "Meet the Press," tear into Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. During his encounter with Chertoff, Russert did not suggest once that local government had any role in dealing with the disaster. Russert also asked for Chertoff's resignation.
It wasn't until after the first 29 minutes of his show – 29 minutes – that Russert raised the question of local responsibility. And when he did so with Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, he did so in a passing way. Broussard brushed off his question with a non-answer.
Broussard began his interview claiming that the nation had "abandoned" New Orleans.
That is nonsense and a lie.
Broussard, who was never identified by "Meet the Press" as a Democrat, spent much of his time attacking the Bush administration, as has Democratic New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
Broussard then ended his performance as he collapsed in tears with a demand: "For God's sake, just shut up and send us somebody!"
His tears didn't wash with me. My sympathies lie with the tens of thousands of people who have suffered or died because local officials like Broussard, Mayor Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco, also a Democrat, failed monumentally at their jobs.
As former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial told Russert, the disaster in New Orleans was "foreseeable."
In fact, New Orleans has long known that such a disaster could take place if a major hurricane hit the city.
The municipality even prepared its own "City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan."
The plan makes it evident that New Orleans knew that evacuation of the civilian population was the primary responsibility of the city – not the federal government.
The city plan acknowledges its responsibility in the document:
"As established by the City of New Orleans Charter, the government has jurisdiction and responsibility in disaster response. City government shall coordinate its efforts through the Office of Emergency Preparedness."
The city document also makes clear that decisions involving a proper and orderly evacuation lie with the governor, mayor and local authorities. Nowhere is the president or federal government even mentioned:
"The authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane is conferred to the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The Governor is granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from a stricken or threatened area within the State, if he deems this action necessary for the preservation of life or other disaster mitigation, response or recovery. The same power to order an evacuation conferred upon the Governor is also delegated to each political subdivision of the State by Executive Order. This authority empowers the chief elected official of New Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the evacuation of the parish residents threatened by an approaching hurricane."
It is clear the city also recognized that it would need to move large portions of its population, and it would need to prepare for such an eventuality:
"The City of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Those evacuated will be directed to temporary sheltering and feeding facilities as needed. When specific routes of progress are required, evacuees will be directed to those routes. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed. ...
Evacuation procedures for small scale and localized evacuations are conducted per the SOPs of the New Orleans Fire Department and the New Orleans Police Department. However, due to the sheer size and number of persons to be evacuated, should a major tropical weather system or other catastrophic event threaten or impact the area, specifically directed long range planning and coordination of resources and responsibilities efforts must be undertaken." [You can read New Orleans' Emergency Plan for hurricanes at its Web site: http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26]
The city's plan also specifically called for the use of city-owned buses and school buses to evacuate the population. These were apparently never deployed, though the Parish of Plaquemines just south of the city evacuated its population using school buses.
The plan, written well before Katrina was even a teardrop in God's eye, was obviously never heeded or implemented by local leaders.
But why should the New Orleans mayor and Governor Blanco take responsibility when they can blame George Bush and the Republicans in Washington?
With congressional elections fast approaching, Democrats who are out of power in every branch of the federal government know they need to change the tide quickly.
They have apparently seized on the Katrina disaster to harm the president politically.
Criticism of the federal government's response is fair and warranted. But putting full responsibility for this disaster on the Bush administration is way over the top.
Primary responsibility for this disaster remains with local officials like Nagin and Blanco, not President Bush.
You mean the mayor didn't have whitey to show him the way?
Uh, when all is said and done.........he be goin DOWN!
Has anyone posted a point by point listing of what this idiot Blanco and the mayor of NO failed to do during the hurricane? I've seen it all in many different articles but it would be nice to see it as a list , point by point. I did see a posting like that but havent been able to find it again .It would be nice to print it out and give it to a few no brains friends of mine who watch TV news and believe what they see and hear. Please let me know if anyone has posted something like this ..Thanx
Many Thanx ........
Fox News reports (Can't find a link) that the Red Cross had pre-positioned supplies near the Superdome, but was prevented from delivering them to the area by Louisiana state officials. They didn't want to create a "magnet" for refugees. What better way to serve people than to create this exact magnet? "We have 75 truckloads of supplies at the Superdome, c'mon down!"
It is my opinion that the Democrat-dominated government of Louisiana and New Orleans were INTENTIONALLY reluctant to bring in aid. This was done in an attempt to create a situation where they could try to damage President Bush's administration. If they quietly block aid, or slowly agree to it a little at a time, then they can loudly and publicly blame the administration for dragging its feet. I think they have about half of the MSM believing this line of sh*t. Fortunately no one but the most hard-core leftists are buying it.
It's either that, or these same people were working hard to hide evidence of some sort of widespread, government-sanctioned illegal activity before allowing the military forces to come in.
If I am correct, 10's of thousands people died because the democratic party, one more time, was willing to do what ever it takes to make President Bush look bad.. even let a lot of people suffer and die in miserable circumstances.
IMHO, if true, they commited a criminal offense.
The other big step was when welfare refused relief payments when their was a man living in the house.
If that is true everyone in Mayor Nagin's administration and many people in Governor Blanco's administration--including both Nagin and Blanco--could be charged with mass murder. This will end up being the blackest day for the Democrats since the "Boss" Tweed scandal that hurt Tammany Hall in New York City in the early 1870's.
You know if the can secure a black eye for the President you can bet they will be invited to give big speeches at the next Democratic Convention. Who knows what else they could get.
You read Tom Tancredo's letter to Hastert today? He really laid it out nicely for all of us when he recommended the monies be run through a special task force instead of to anyone in the State of Louisiana?
It didn't take Landrieu long to say SHE was introducing legislation to give ALL the money directly to them with zero strings.
Last week when there was still thousands of people stranded, dead or dying, Landrieu, at a press conference, was literally grinning from ear-to-ear and wringing her hands in glee (seriously) and telling their WWLTV that they were "going to be getting a LOT of money!" When asked how much -- her reply was "a lot, more than you can imagine, we are going to do really, really well, I'll see to it we do."
At the time, I thought it was strange, but didn't know all the history behind her and everyone else in the State... now, I'm very suspicious that THEY didn't care these people were dying all they were seeing was dollar signs.
REALLY good idea! You and I, as well as some millions of other Americans (I sincerely hope), would love to see an exact timeline of who said what, who did what, and who could've done something at time X, and didn't (hiya, Gov. Blankout...waving).
"It is my opinion that the Democrat-dominated government of Louisiana and New Orleans were INTENTIONALLY reluctant to bring in aid"
Thats a bit over the top. Looks to me like a simple case of local/state govt not having a friggin clue as to what to do during this emergency
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