No Blame Game Here
UPDATE: I can always count on Cynthia to provide facts to my opinion. Check out her post on the Hurricane Katrina Timeline, and then tell me that the federal government does not deserve the brunt of the blame to the lackluster response.... no, the criminal response to the hurricane. Make sure you sign the petition for MoveOn.org. We allowed Bush to get away with Iraq because 1900 dead soldiers don't impact a lot of Americans, $200 billion can be hidden in our economy, war is as real as a space invaders game to most Americans and the mess is happening in Iraq.
Now, we have a disaster that is happening on our shores and many of us know people who are directly impacted by the storm. Even if we've never been to New Orleans, we have a symbolic connection to its culture. And these are AMERICAN corpse floating in the disease infested waters. We need to demand more... we need to demand answers.
Why didn’t the Mayor of New Orleans take the steps necessary to evacuate the entire city. He claims that the best they could do is 80%. Well, 80% is good enough for an algebra test but its not good enough in the terms of saving lives. In Chicago, 80% would equate to 600,000 people left behind. In Los Angeles, 80% would equate to 1.2 million people left behind. In New York City, 80% would equate to 1.6 million people left behind. That’s not good enough. It is especially not good enough when aerial shots of New Orleans show rows of buses submerged in infested waters. Why weren’t those buses staged on higher ground?
Once the storm hit and it became a matter for the federal government, why did they respond so slowly? Why wasn’t the National Guard staged and ready to move into the region? Why wasn’t a chain of command established? Is Mike Brown qualified to run FEMA? How So? This is not a blame game this is a matter of life and death. The President goes on national TV and says, ‘Brownie, you’re doing an excellent job.’ How so? And why would the president, in the middle of a crisis see fit to praise his frat brother when it is apparent that major mistakes are being made? Is he covering up something or trying to deflect the criticism because he knows that eventually he would be held responsible for placing such an inept man in charge of responding to natural disasters? And what has Homeland Security been doing the last couple of years?
No, the time is now to get answers to these questions. I have no interest in listening to Scott ‘Puffy McMoon Face’ McCullen spin talking points. We can’t wait until this disaster is taken care of because the world doesn’t wait for us to clean up one mess before it presents another. Hurricanes don’t stop churning in the Atlantic. Earthquakes don’t hibernate. Forest fires don’t sleep. Terrorist don’t stop with plans for attack until one crises is dealt with. I want to know that we will respond correctly next month, next week or even tomorrow if we must.
If the government is going to ask America to sacrifice and pitch in with the relief effort, the least they could do is provide answers. We will open up our wallets and our hearts to the victims of Hurricane Katrina… but while we do, President Bush, Mike Brown, Gov. Blanco, and Mayor Nagin better open their mouths and start leveling with the American people. Enough is enough already.
3:05 PM James, your questions and comments are right on target.
4:28 PM SK: I do put some blame on the mayor of New Orleans. He dropped the ball. But it is FEMA with the resources to truly respond to a crisis of this magnitude.