New Orleans Facing Katrina and Where Is the President?- Page 7

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/31/05 at 5:47pm

Is it true he asked Clinton to step in?

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 8/31/05 at 6:03pm

A devestating fact-by-fact account.

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.

-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004."

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A city is destroyed, and in large part this disaster was eminently preventable...but the money, planning, coordination, and people necessary to accomplish that prevention and mitigation were diverted from already identified urgent needs and projects and sunk into the bloody sands of the Iraqi desert and siphoned into the bulging pockets of your campaign contributors and rich beneficiaries of your stupid tax cuts.




Where was George?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/31/05 at 6:14pm

Well, my parents just cut their Chicago visit short and hopped on the first flight back to Houston. My dad is one of the heads of the emergency operations setting up the Astrodome to receive the New Orleans refugees and my mother is working as a volunteer. It was sad that I couldn't see them to say goodbye today, but I'm happy they can be there to help.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/31/05 at 7:43pm

Ya know, I am not a fan of Rudy Giuliani. I wasn't before 9/11 (when he destroyed so much of what I loved about NYC) and I certainly can NOT abide the canonization of St. Rudy that happened in 2002 and beyond (especially after reading "102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers" by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn).

But what I did appreciate about him, was the fact that like him or not, the man evidenced LEADERSHIP in the first possible moments after the first plane hit the WTC and continued to do so for weeks.

These are the times that call for the person in charge to evidence LEADERSHIP. With communications almost impossible for the elected officials in La. to get on the airwaves and explain what is going on, it really does fall on the president's shoulders.

And clearly, this is a man who is not capable of leadership.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/31/05 at 7:47pm

"...what I did appreciate about him, was the fact that like him or not, the man evidenced LEADERSHIP in the first possible moments after the first plane hit the WTC and continued to do so for weeks..."

I strongly agree. Well said.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/1/05 at 12:28am

One last political post before my vacation.

Tomorrow's (Thursday's) NYT editorial blasts Bush for his shameful lack of leadership:

snippet:

---

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end....

Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.

While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?

It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.
Waiting for a Leader

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 9/1/05 at 9:14am

"Do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans..."

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/1/05 at 10:09am

Just heard on CNN that W is calling in Bill Clinton and George HW Bush to ask THEM to demonstrate some leadership. Since W is completely and utterly incapable of it.

This is a horrible situation, the levees were breached and the cracks in the President's veneer have been revealed in a way that can never, ever be repaired.

Many of us knew something like this was destined to happen, but it still leaves us with a sick feeling in our guts.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/1/05 at 2:40pm

When Repulicans cheered the election results claiming this is "what the people wanted", I doubt this is what they had in mind. The most embarrassing President of the 20th century. Possibly the 21st as well, but that is yet to be seen. He is certainly setting the bar low for the next century.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/1/05 at 2:52pm

Babies are deyhdrated, cadavers are parked by the river, and Bush is on the air talking about gas. I have never seen such a disconnect between the reality of what's happening on the ground, and what's being said about it. Chertoff appears, like the President, to try and wow us with stats, to overwhelm with the numbers of blankets and gallons of water ON THEIR WAY. I've said it in two other threads, but it's startling to see how many journalists have made their way to New Orleans while the life-saving help fails to show up. There is simply no good explanation for that.

Meanwhile, Condi heard "Find Your Grail" the night after the worst tragedy in American history. I hope, truly, that her boss finds his.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/1/05 at 2:54pm

Honestly, his little speech just now was the first time I've ever felt him to be in the least bit sincere. His line about "don't buy gas if you don't need it" makes sense - he's trying to keep people from panicking and stocking up before the prices skyrocket even further.

It was the first time I've ever seen him without the smarm, the smug smile. Ever.

[songplugger]

Posted: 9/1/05 at 2:54pm

Anybody here see Dick Cheney? Haven't heard a peep from him.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/1/05 at 2:58pm

Who?