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Blame game
I'm not sure why some people seem to think Bush is more to blame for the planning and aid catastrophe than, say, the mayor of New Orleans or the governor of Louisiana. The latter two are "on the ground" and should have seen impending disaster long before Katrina started swirling -- hell, I could see it from over a thousand miles away. Public television saw it years ago and broadcast it on national TV.
The governor, and to a much greater extent the mayor, are directly responsible to exactly those people at risk. Those two don't have their attention spread over fifty states and assorted territories, as well as international questions. Don't know about Louisiana, but Maine has its own emergency management agency. We have a county agency, and one for our city. I think our city stirred up more emergency storm shelters for our last hurricane than New Orleans did, with less than a tenth the population and far lower threat.
And as far as national policy goes, any disaster plan formed for New Orleans under the Clinton administration would still be valid. Hell, one laid out under _Kennedy_ would still cover the major points -- those levees have been too low and weak for generations.
So yes, blame Bush and his evil henchmen. But don't let the mayor and the governor off the hook. One reason why they are screaming and pointing is so you won't look at _them_.
The governor, and to a much greater extent the mayor, are directly responsible to exactly those people at risk. Those two don't have their attention spread over fifty states and assorted territories, as well as international questions. Don't know about Louisiana, but Maine has its own emergency management agency. We have a county agency, and one for our city. I think our city stirred up more emergency storm shelters for our last hurricane than New Orleans did, with less than a tenth the population and far lower threat.
And as far as national policy goes, any disaster plan formed for New Orleans under the Clinton administration would still be valid. Hell, one laid out under _Kennedy_ would still cover the major points -- those levees have been too low and weak for generations.
So yes, blame Bush and his evil henchmen. But don't let the mayor and the governor off the hook. One reason why they are screaming and pointing is so you won't look at _them_.
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But, as Ms. Billings says, there's plenty of blame to go around. I'm not interested in letting Bush & Co. off the hook, just keeping the local honchos firmly _on_ it.
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I have seen rumblings that suggest there are people who think they can maybe make the federal mishaps fade away from the public consciousness if they focus on the local screwups... that worries me.
But yes, there are plenty of screwups, and everyone should step forward and take responsibility.