Katrina and the Blame Game

So it's been a little over a week since Katrina hit New Orleans and Mississippi.

I'm reading the news this morning on AOL and I read about how Pierce Brosnan is blasting President Bush for the response to Katrina. And I thought to myself, who the heck are you to blast my country? You don't live here. You don't really know what's going on here. President Bush is doing his best to get this taken care of, but, in my opinion, the response to this is not his fault.

No one could have been prepared for the effect that this hurricane would have on New Orleans. No one could have known how bad it was going to be. Sure, they could predict, but how many times have you or I seen an accident about to happen in our own homes but responded lacadaisically because you didn't think it was going to be that bad? It's the same phenomenon.

And why is it that the federal government is so responsible for this? Where was the state government? I saw New Orleans Mayor Nagin speaking about getting the state and federal governments to coordinate with each other and he said that Governor Blanco was stalling for time…but he didn't say it in those words. President Bush and Governor Blanco met on Air Force One and President Bush said that Blanco wanted 24 hours to decide on whatever option they had discussed.

Do you see what I mean? I mean, how insane is it for someone to ask for 24 hours to make a decision on ANYTHING when people are dying every minute?

Bush does not strike me as being indecisive or inattentive. In fact, sometimes I think his tendency to move quickly to get things done might have hurt him, like, for instance, in Iraq. He knew something was going on there and he wanted to go over there and quelch it. So he did. That hurt him because then no WMD were found. If Bush were the governor and not that twerp Blanco, I think that state would have been better off.

Undoubtedly, there were some foul-ups, but what do you expect from a bureaucracy as large as the federal government? That state should have been more ready so that they could take care of themselves passably while the Feds got their asses in gear. But even that may be unreasonable to think…Louisiana may be rich in culture, but rich financially, it is not.