President Bush during a briefing on Hurricane Katrina

[hummingwolf]

The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

I think it is time for me to get away from the news and take a good, long walk.

Comments

[speck.livejournal.com]

ditto. thanks.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

honest to god, i think he lacks something, emotionally, maybe damaged by all the dope when he was young. he has zero feel for the seriousness of things, as when he joked about how on-edge the security staff at the white house was post-9/11. a balanced person knows not to joke about things like that.

it's a kind of brain damage, maybe. he can't speak well, so it could be tied to that.

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

Frat-boy tourette's syndrome... involuntary, rapid vocalizations of things that could only have come from the mind of a rich drunken jock at a college frat party.

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

your diagnosis is probably closer to the case than mine!

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

Honestly, what's wrong with him remaining upbeat -- trying, no doubt to provide a good example to people having a hard time maintaining good morale?

If he was running round crying "OMGZ! The world is ending! We're all fucked! New Orleans is finished!" would you feel any better?

[xforge.livejournal.com]

How about a happy medium, Darth? How about the President not making stupid wisecracks about the sweet palace one of his ultrarich buddies is going to build with the insurance money whilst people are dying of dehydration in a convention hall in Louisiana?

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

Potentially, but I think he wants to try very hard to *not* project any kind of "doom and gloom" attitude. I really think people would be charging "Chicken Little" if he so much as let that facade slip for a moment.

[paradigm-palace.livejournal.com]

I'm absolutely convinced that no mater what Bush says or how he says it, people who already have a deep-seeded political dislike for the man are going to perceive his comments as half-hearted, insincere and opportunistic when it comes to Hurricane Katrina. I agree with you that his remaining upbeat is preferable to a doomsday speech that would likely do little but cause *more* panic and grief.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Gosh, did I say there was anything wrong with it? I just posted a quote, then said I needed to go for a walk.

Okay, you want to know why I have a problem with his statement? The fact that the known death toll in Mississippi has reached well over a hundred, and officials in New Orleans believe the death toll in their city alone--nevermind the surrounding areas--may be in the thousands. This is a time of national mourning. One job of a head of state at a time like this is to express sympathy to the bereaved.

I'll give him this. If when he says "out
of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before," he means he will miraculously resurrect the dead, he deserves all the credit we can give him. But in the real world where he is merely human, he gets credit for stunning insensitivity.

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

Maybe he could focus a little harder on getting help down there...?
I've heard this a hundred times now: lots of people could NOT evacuate because they had no means to do so.
Excuse me? WHat government doesn't HELP their people to evacuate?
HELP! Not BEG. Help them out of there! The poor, the sick, the old!
Excuse me, I'm going to bed now.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

You have NO IDEA how much focus he has been applying off-camera. I suspect he hasn't been putting his feet up and watching Tiny Toons whenever the news crews go away.

Do you realise how fast the NG mobilisation is? Do you realise that it normally takes over two weeks from initial order to feet-on-ground to deploy, and that's when they're in a hurry? Two weeks work, done in a couple of days. You have to suspect that at least some of that effort requires leadership.

The Commander-In-Chief has to take some of the credit for declaring a state of emergency *before* the storm hit (after the governor *failed* to do her constitutional job and ask him to), and for sending in the NG, after the governor *failed* to do her constitutional job and ask him to.

Bush has stepped up to the plate BIG TIME for Katrina, more than a lot of people seem to realise. He has taken care of organising things the governor and mayor (corrupt idiots that they are) have utterly failed in any way to do. First Responders are called that for a reason, but it took stronger hands taking over the reigns before even *they* were sent in.

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

Well, the results speak for itself, I think.
Thousands of people are dead, are they not?
It's chaos down there and since this distaster could've been anticipated and WAS anticipated I don't really see where else the blame lies than with the government...
It's their job to be responsible for the people.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

The results do speak for themselves. Bush has significantly reduced the death toll, and the chaos.

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

It's not enough.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

It's a ton better than the city and state officials had managed to do. As far as I can make out, not one single major step was taken by either the mayor, or the governor. Bush has taken many, and the response has been pretty damn perfect. The response from the authorities, anyway -- the response from the citizenry has been in part utterly subhuman.

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

Well, then I'll blame the local authorities then.
Thanks for the info! :)

[paradigm-palace.livejournal.com]

Thousands may be dead. It's not confirmed but speculated. So far, I believe the confirmed figure is below 200 (200 too many, obviously, but...) and many of those were killed by the storm, initially. And no government can be blamed for a hurricane coming onshore. The fact that this disaster WAS anticipated and that people still *chose* to live and to work there implies that an enormous amount of blame, if blame *must* be utilized, be placed on personal responsibility. Nobody forced those people to live there. It's a different case for the marginally employed, disabled and chronically poor that might not have been able to move even if they wanted to. But, personally, if I was well aware (as most coastal residents are) that I lived in a catastrophically dangerous geographical location (like NOLA) and a natural disaster such as Katrina occurred, I'd blame myself for knowing better. Who is foolhardy enough to believe that any human government can avert the will of Mother Nature? Maybe not all that *could* be done was done but efforts were made and are continuing. I don't see how the government can be held accountable for injuries sustained by natural disasters. We're all only human. I just feel that undue blame adds insult to injury, right now. I'm not a fan of President Bush, myself, but I hardly believe he's super-happy about all of this.

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

Chose? There were people there who COULD NOT GET OUT because they were poor, disabled, old = had no means to get out.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

As much as I despise the poor local response to the storm, there *were* some free busses provided, and people *did* have several days' notice.

If I needed to get out of there, I would have walked along the interstate with my thumb out if I had to. Hell, I've done that just to get home from a bar, let alone if something with the energy of a nuclear bomb was heading right for my ass.

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

Sure, I would've too. I'm just saying I think it's poor taste to blame those who couldn't get out.

[paradigm-palace.livejournal.com]

What I meant by "chose" was choosing to be a resident there for the past ten, twenty, thirty years -- not choosing to stay there over the weekend that the hurricane struck. I'm well aware that many who were stuck in New Orleans when it flooded were too poor, old and/or disabled to evacuate.

And I'm well aware of what it feels like to be left behind, ignored, abandoned and made a target for the worst possible scenarios just because I've lacked basic resources, sympathy and respect from my surrounding community in times of need --- just not in the face of a hurricane heading my way.

I'm not saying it isn't a tragedy or that it's by any means fair and acceptable. I just don't see how it's "ALL the federal government's fault", which has become a national and irritatingly narrow-minded cry. Several things could have been done on a local level, as well, that were not done. And the roots of this tragedy aren't anything unique to the city of New Orleans. Poor people EVERYWHERE are targets for the lowest possible priority list. And it's frequently not only and not even primarily the federal government who makes that list. Just something to think about.

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

Well, my opinion is that whenever there are people suffering of, for instance, poverty, society and government (local or not) have the responsibility to try to help those people.
I don't think that poor people have themselves to blame - ever.
It's our responsibility as humans to try to help those who have less than we do, unless we suffer ourselves, which is of course something we have to decide for ourselves.

In this particular instance, I agree that there would've been casualities anyway but that the local authorities and perhaps the federal aswell (since I don't know exactly who has the responsibility) haven't done what they could have.
In my favourite world (perhaps a non existant one), those who couldn't leave, would have gotten help from the authorities.
I guess I should be more cynical...

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Governor Blanco asked for help. Yeah, Mother Jones is very much on the liberal side and wouldn't like Bush no matter what he did, but they do link to the governor's letter of August 28.

Oh, and there are bunch of interesting links here.

“I understand that the U.S. Forest Service had water-tanker aircraft available to help douse the fires raging on our riverfront, but FEMA has yet to accept the aid. When Amtrak offered trains to evacuate significant numbers of victims – far more efficiently than buses – FEMA again dragged its feet. Offers of medicine, communications equipment and other desperately needed items continue to flow in, only to be ignored by the agency.

“But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment.

DHS response to the disaster really hasn't impressed me.

[vayacondia.livejournal.com]

Well! I know I was here lying awake at night because I was worried about whether Trent Lott was gonna be able to rebuild his fucking MANSION!

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Yes, and it is terribly important that President Bush gets the chance to sit on the rebuilt porch drinking some good sweet tea.

I still have the urge to ask if "a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before" means Bush is going to find a way to bring all those dead people back to life, ya know? Then again, maybe it's best not to ask these things--some people I know & I have all had dreams involving zombies recently...