Posted on 09/11/2005 1:57:58 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
President Bush ought to be visibly angry that storm victims in and around New Orleans continued to die in isolation days after the water stopped rising. The nation need not wait for Bush to have the vice president investigate or for Congress to hold hearings. Major accusations of mismanagement are consistent with news reports live from the scene. The closer everyday people are to the disaster, the angrier they seem.
Bush needs to hold key leaders accountable right now.
``We've got 28 miles of coastline here that's absolutely destroyed, and the federal government, they're not here,'' retired Air Force Capt. William Bissell told a reporter in Biloxi on Monday.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune, whose staff regrouped on higher ground and continued covering the rapid deterioration of the city on the Web (www.NOLA.com), called for every official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be fired.
The newspaper noted that reporters were exploring all the flooded neighborhoods, Wal- Mart trucks were bringing in supplies, and still ``the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid, were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.''
Michael Brown, undersecretary for emergency preparedness and response, was over his head in the job before the flood was a foot deep. He should have the decency to resign. His public comments have been bewildering; he seemed to know less about what was happening than did the average TV viewer.
Instead of simply reassuring everyone that everything was fine, he should have explained why aid was delayed and when it would get there. Miracles weren't expected, only simple honesty and competence.
The 50-year-old lawyer from Oklahoma once was in charge of emergency services for Edmond, Okla., a town of 71,000. After losing a race for Congress in 1988, he worked in the 1990s as rules enforcer for a horse association. When Bush became president, Brown got a job as lawyer for the emergency agency and soon rose to the top position.
Brown has presided over an agency in decline that has become, as the Washington Post aptly described it, a ``bureaucratic backwater.''
Bush should replace Brown with someone experienced in disaster management who can restore the agency's reputation, funding and spirit. And FEMA should be made independent of the Department of Homeland Security.
But Brown isn't to blame for all that went wrong around New Orleans.
Instead of getting the nation ready for a major urban disaster, Congress has treated disaster grants as gifts to be shared equally, regardless of need.
While the huge federal Department of Homeland Security was being created and money spent with abandon, no one had a plan for how to control a lawless city. After Hurricane Katrina hit, a third of the New Orleans police force disappeared. Federal authorities hesitated, as did state and local authorities, who had responsibility for the initial evacuation orders.
Now some observers are calling for Washington to take charge sooner and rule with a heavy hand. Clearly federal aid must be better managed and more quickly deployed, but states and cities should beware giving away too much authority too soon.
No mayor would want the Defense Department deciding when to evacuate or how to do it. But moving, feeding, housing and, in some cases, medicating 250,000 people is far beyond the capacity of cities and states.
Until the federal government is ready to do that, and do it fast, the homeland cannot be considered secure.
lots of politics in this story. they forgot to mention that a cat. 4 hurricane hit just east of New Orleans. I guess it's Bush's fault.
Bush should show some outrage.
Nagin and Blanco are failed leaders. Bush needs to step in front of the cameras and show some of the feelings Americans have about this diaster.
He can explain, he can praise, he can fire, he can show he's pissed off.
I think Americans need to know he's pissed off.
No one (except political opportunists) is saying it's Bush's fault.
It's not his fault.
I am tired of the "feel your pain" theatrics.
Bush can tell the country they acted like he would have hoped during the natural emergency but there are a lot of wheels on the local, state and federal levels that need to be greased before we're prepared for a terrorist attack - the event we've all been told is on the horizon.
He needs to tell it like it is. It's obvious to the people. It needs to be echoed by the president.
Welcome to FR.
Thanks for the LINKS backhoe!
You bet- I'm trying to find something else Jay did for another post-- he's very astute with the satirical graphics.
Deliberate ignorance/aka lying out your ass. After I heard that Sandy Bergler got probation and a small fine, I hold no hope that those whose "priorities" harmed and killed people, will ever get their just desserts.
They should make up their minds. First they prevent the Feds from helping(among others), now they blame the Feds. Welcome to the Rabbit Hole :/
I don't think it is a hit piece.
I've read a lot of hit pieces that I wouldn't post except to ridicule but I would not call this a hit piece.
We need to ask our government to function.
It functioned in Texas, so we know states can react to an emergency but the coordination between different levels of government needs to be set on a clearer course.
I guess the author did not read that the combined deaths have not even reached 500.
GWBush does not play the "claim the issue" game.
GWBush is a solution oriented leadership style.
This is just a sucker solicitation to join the gutter poltics of democrat slimes.
Not once did they mention local authorities. Would they prefer, then, that the feds ignore local authorities like they do? Oh, they'd be getting the vapors over that, too!
Pretty much a rehash of the DNC talking points...
There is something here that need to be highlighted. What was the City and State plan for post disaster law enforcement and riot/looter control. If there was no plan why not? If there was a plan why wasn't it executed?
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