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Having read this board silently for days, the "real" story of what happened has finally compelled me to speak. Not that it will do any good, I’m afraid. The political prisms Pelicans are looking through (much like the rest of the country I’m afraid) are too strong for rational discourse.
The ‘real" story above is so transparently biased that I can’t believe anyone would endorse it, no matter what side you are on. Bush "pleads" while the locals plot their political strategy. The good administration desperately tries to find a legal way around the evil locals, who care only how they "look." Corrupt state and city politicians squander the well-intentioned federal largess handed to them over the years. Please.
Why is it so hard to admit that this was a massive failure on the local, state and federal levels? Saying that DHS and FEMA, whose leaders were expressing ignorance of the desperate situation ON TELEVISION four days into this tragedy, were horribly incompetent, is NOT the same as saying the Mayor did a bang-up job of protecting his city. Admitting that this administration, at its highest levels, failed to appreciate the magnitude of the emergency until very late in the game, is NOT the same as promoting Governor Blanco for sainthood. Why is that so hard for some to accept?
Louisiana’s state and city officials failed to protect their populace. The federal government, which we have all been led to believe had spent the past four years training to respond to LOCAL emergencies (are there any other kind?), proved themselves not up to the job. Not even close.
I don’t vote in New Orleans or in Louisiana. That is not to say that I’m unconcerned how the federal government would respond to a natural or man-made disaster there. I’m VERY concerned about that, for economic, humanitarian, and a whole host of other reasons. This disaster was not a local problem, it was a national problem, and I’m ashamed of the incompetence with which it was handled.
No matter what your political streak, from liberal to libertarian, I think that everyone agrees that at a bare minimum, the government’s function is to protect its citizenry – from foreign armies, local thugs, and natural disasters. If it does nothing else, it should be prepared to protect its citizens. The city, state and federal government failed in their respective jobs.
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