The President is mandated, it could be argued it is his sole duty, to protect America and it's citizens. Whether they are rich or poor. Black or white. Stupid or smart. Self-sufficient or entirely dependent.
No matter the adjectives, in this task Dubya completely failed.
However, the Neo-Cons (at some point we should just drop the Neo) refuse to accept responsibility. In their eyes Dubya can do no wrong. Their reasons are as follow:
A) It is the responsibility of local officials to tend for the natives
B) The Federal government does not have to protect the citizenry from flooding.
Louisiana should pay for the Levees since they are the ones threatened.
C) The Federal response was adequate and appropriate.
Let me break it down for you...
Response to point A.
I have repeatedly read in conservative journals that inept and corrupt Nola authorities fucked up by not bussing people out of the city.
There were city and school buses available. 401 to be exact.
What they fail to explain is who would drive the buses. They also fail to explain who had command and control of the buses. What was the destination? Only a major city could supply 30,000 refugees with shelter. How would the buses be fueled after traveling a hundred miles? Were all of the 401 buses in service? There weren't nearly enough buses to transport all of the evacuees. Who determined evacuee priority?
Of course they also fail to recognize that all roads out of Nola were log-jammed with people evacuating in their own cars. By the time the roads cleared it was too late. The buses wouldn't be able to outrun the storm. It was safer to house people in the Super Dome. That's why it was part of the official disaster plan.
Another point they argue is that the Governor had responsibility. Read this article in Time Magazine about the extensive efforts Gov Blanco took before during and after the storm. She tried, and ultimately failed, but the scope of the disaster was much larger than her authority. More importantly the President has far more comprehensive resources at his disposal than a Governor.
The article nicely summarizes the situation with a quote from a LA official, "That's like telling a drowning man that you are not going to help him until he asks for a life preserver."
Lastly, I don't want to diverge into an Iraq discussion but there were only a few thousand guardsman available in the entire tri-state region. The rest of the troops, and all of the heavy equipment, were deployed, ahem, elsewhere. The Governor did, despite claims to the contrary, deploy the Guard on August 26, asked for additional troops on August 28 and even more on Sept 2.
Response to point B.
It absolutely is up to the Government to control flooding throughout the nation. Large swaths of the nation's farmland are in flood plains. Sediment makes for rich soil. What would happen if the nation's breadbasket was under water? But New Orleans is crucial for another reason.
The Gulf of Mexico is a major strategic resource of the United States. Beyond the extensive oil reserves under the ocean, the ports along the gulf are the among the most utilized in the nation. Running smack dab through the center of the country, and terminating in the gulf, is the Mississippi River. The Mighty Mississippi is the backbone for transporting supplies and commodities to and from the heartland. The Federal Government has built all sorts of levees and locks to ensure that the river is continually usable. Since the river runs through multiple states, and the chain is only as strong as the weakest link, responsibility for the river, from dredging to flood control, lies with the Federal Government.
Steel, chemical, agriculture and oil products all cruise up and down the river causeway. And it all starts, or ends if you prefer, in New Orleans. It is unfair, and imprudent, to task Louisiana (or any single state) with that much responsibility.
Response to point C.
Neo-Cons argue that the President doesn't have much power. Fine, if he is powerless, he should at least be our leader. The man responsible for steering the country. A proverbial rock in the storm.
On Tues 8/30, the day after, the President was not en route to the Gulf Region. He wasn't working on a disaster relief bill. He wasn't handing out water at the shelters. Our leader,..a compassionate conservative. A Christian. A man of the people. Our President was laughing, smiling and playing guitar with a country music star. Here's the photo from AP to prove it.
The reason the Federal Government is mandated with disaster relief is simple. You can't rely on local authorites and resources. It doesn't matter if it is the corrupt Nola PD or the well trained LAPD. When the people tasked with disaster relief are themselves disaster victims it's a problem. You need to bring people in who are unaffected by the disaster. Relief workers who aren't worried about their families and homes.
FEMA, part of the far-reaching Homeland Security department, had command and control of the situation once Dubya signed the disaster declaration two days before the Hurricane struck. They also had command and control of the fuel depots, mass-transport, communications systems and National Guard. FEMA was responsible for staging disaster relief supplies in advance of the storm. They failed. FEMA was responsible for sending out their multitude of search & rescue teams. Only 7 teams were sent. The list of FEMA foibles is much longer but this is already off-topic.
Neo-Cons want to leave FEMA out of the discussion but FEMA, and the response it is federally mandated with carrying out, is the discussion. FEMA is the tool in the Presidential arsenal he is supposed to use for disasters.
The fact that our nincompoop of a President appointed a guy that had no emergency experience is the reason the system failed.
They argue, often vehemently, that the response was fast and adequate. If that is even remotely true why was Brown replaced and subsequently asked to resign?
They applaud the fact that Brownie was replaced with a seasoned Coast Guard officer. While completely overlooking the fact that their man Bushie put Brownie there in the first place.
In summary...From constitutionally established responsibilities to the chain of command to plain and simple leadership, Bush completely failed.
Politics aside, the question you should be asking is why did it take a week to get food and water to New Orleans? Happily the death toll isn't 10,000, but how many deaths could have been prevented if the Federal Gov't had responded in their mandated 48 hours.
Currently I'm listening to You Can't Blame Me from the album "Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label" by Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum, & Durr
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