Posted on 07/13/2014 1:32:16 PM PDT by Hojczyk
Cannon recalled how Bush’s critics erupted in indignation when the White House published a photograph of the president surveying the devastation from Air Force One. Entertainers like Michael Moore and Kanye West accused the president of racism and callousness. Bush’s Democratic adversaries in Congress, including then Senator Obama, were no kinder.
In hindsight, little of this seems fair. What Bush saw as he flew over the battered region shocked him. The next day, he publicly pledged $10.5 billion in federal aid, enlisted his father and Bill Clinton to help in recovery efforts, and spoke about the tragedy from the Rose Garden. The next day, he headed down there, where he literally put his arms around shell-shocked survivors, many of them black people. Bush returned again in mid-September and made a nationally televised address from Jackson Square in New Orleans.
When he ran for president, then-Sen. Barack Obama seemed to forget all that. All he cared to recall was the flyover, which is more than he’s done on the Texas border this year.
Bush’s approach to Katrina was criticized by his allies and opponents alike, and some of that criticism was deserved, but he never treated the situation in New Orleans as though it was a political opportunity. That is a grotesque abuse of the public trust, but this seems to be the calculation the president and his advisors made.
“Although Obama probably doesn’t have to go to the border personally to be an effective leader, he may owe George W. Bush an apology,” Cannon concluded.
Like Katrina, Obama’s successors will likely study his response to the situation on the border as a case study in how not to address a crisis. The border disaster is, however, not Obama’s Katrina. The president’s refusal to perform the responsibilities associated with his role as the nation’s chief executive makes this episode far worse.
If Perry ordered the Texan national guard (or whatever troops Perry commands as a state Governor) to control the border, what would Obama do? Order the Army to the border to stop them? If O orders the border unsecured at gun point, isn’t that Treason? Isn’t that a direct abdication of one of the roles of his office?
I haven't operated with CBP drones, but they suck a huge portion of the CBP Air budget and until they slapped a new ground radar on it they hadn't produced much product for the cost. The new tech on the drones is a game changer, but it could be a game changer on a manned aircraft also. The CBP drone program came about a decade too soon. Had they waited a decade they could have skipped 10 years filled with massive growing pains trying to fly drones in U.S. airspace. They are locked in a specific altitude block so you need virtually clear skies to be fully operational. You can't fly through weather and definitely not through icing so your launch and recovery site has to remain VFR for the duration of your flight. The launch and recovery crew is much larger than for a conventional aircraft. You have to reserve satellite time even if you aren't flying, which I think goes for $8 a minute. There comes a point where you have to ask what am I getting for all this expenditure?
The guard units in each state can be called out by a Gov. and then that state bears the entire cost.
Plus as CIC BO can counterman the Gov’s order to call tem out and order them back.
A Gov can not send the guard to stop or prevent or even aid the Federal Border agents from their duties.
NO Gov would order a state guard to fire upon illegals or federal agents. Plus think of the conflict any American would have , to shoot at another American for doing their job?
so there isn’t much purpose for a Gov to send a state guard to a national crisis
People who are not paying attention seem to think this is a Texas only crisis. It is a national crisis and is growing as BO sends thousands of illegals into states all across the country.
Some people who post in boards act all tough and say, well if Perry had any balls he’d send the guard in to stop the illegals and force BO to do something else.
If those people really meant what they post there are civilian militia on the border now. These tough talkers could join the civilian militia and shoot at illegals and federal agents all they wanted
After the storm, GW Bush could not legally send in help until he received a request from Blanco. She delayed it just long enough to inflict all kinds of chaos for the media’s consumption. Bush’s mistake was to not make this public. And this was not the first bit of game playing.
Hurricane Andrew hit Homestead Florida. Media was there like johnny on the spot to show the world all the death and destruction. The governor of Florida at the time was a dimrat. His name means nothing because they are interchangeable parts. Anyway, the Florida gov waited for 5 days to formally request help from GHW Bush. The media got their show where they got to highlight Bush out on his boat in Maine while Americans were suffering. Call it the first “Bush’s fault”.
And for all the Perry complainers, imagine if we had a democrat like Windy Davis or a Maw Richards.
A Gov can not send the guard to stop or prevent or even aid the Federal Border agents from their duties.
I’ve never heard this. Is this a law? Directive? Common practice?
I should have been clearer
a Gov can not order a guard to stop or prevent federal agents from doing what the federal gov ordered thefederal agents to do
and a Gov can not order state guard to arrest or detain illegals the way federal agents can. A POTUS could of course give the guard the authority to perform same duties.
The federal gov has authority over a national border which is what the southern border is.
Do you think a Gov can countermand orders given by the federal gov?
I see what you’re saying.
What if Perry ordered the national guard to enforce the border laws? Not preventing the Feds from doing their thing (or not doing their thing, to be more accurate).
I don’t see how that violates the conditions you outlined. And it puts Obama in the spot of having to officially order the Guard to not enforce the border laws.
How could a state guard enforce federal border laws differently that the Feds are ordered to.
Right now the Feds take every illegal into custody.
some, if they are adult and Mexican can be turned back quickly
but if they are children or women with children they are taken to a detention facility.
and there the problems for us start. Once they get even partially into the system they are here and as we know they won’t leave.
So what differently could a state guard do? They could only turn illegals over to Border agents.
and bingo the illegals are home free at our expense.
sorry there is nothing Perry or ANY Gov can order a state guard to do that would stop the fiasco that is going on
Zero sued AZ Gov Jan Brewer three years ago for trying to seal the border and enforce against illegal immigration.
This is not a new pattern with zero.
Katrina was a coverup for Democrat failure. It was a phony media propaganda effort to make President Bush a scape goat.
The current problem results from incompetent policy that is gotten totally out of hand. The train is coming off the rails.
There aren’t many people outside of DC that want to have waves and waves of people here illegally, children, gang members, pregnant or no, roaming the streets and countryside willy nilly.
Seriously, people won’t tolerate it. You CAN’T take everyone. There will be BITS before this is through.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.