The White House today had the unmitigated gall to announce that the President was "cutting his vacation short" to return to Washington to spearhead the Hurricane relief effort.
Excuse me? Why the hell wasn't he flying back to D.C. on Sunday when it became obvious that the gulf coast was going to see devastating damage? Why did he wait until over 20,000 people were on day three in the Superdome to declare that the homeland security department (with its vast resources and authority) would be the lead agency in the aftermath? Did he have to see the bodies floating through the streets of the "big easy" to realize that an American city will soon be compared with Calcutta?
It has been made me puke all weekend prior to the arrival of the deadly Katrina to see that Bush would go out on his regular speaking engagements and take a minute or two from the podium to give advice on "taking cover" and "protecting your families." Evacuation instructions and preparedness advice ... that's work for Governors. Bush is so desperate the change the subject away from Iraq, he'll even ride in on the tide of a Category 4 hurricane to do it.
And what will the help be that comes from George II? I guess we won't be listening to all that wonderful conservative drivel about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, will we? No testimonials rugged individualism, no siree ... this is going to be the time to pull out the big government big red pen and write some checks. These are the times when even Republicans are thrilled with the massive power and reach of the federal government. One hopes that the Dems can take some notes and try to remember these times when rhetoric of tax cutting turns up again and the question comes to "What has the federal government done for you lately?" I hope it will save my fellow citizens from starvation and dehydration and prevent the economy from crashing into an energy crisis-provoked recession.
It's a lot to hope for.
2 comments:
Come on now! Poor George did need a vacation. After all, he's had to think once or twice in the last several years. And he DID have Air Force One swoop down over NO so he could have a look-see for himself.
I was surprised that he didn't act in advance though. I though it would have been the perfect opportunity to be proactive. Why he could have dropped a nucular bomb on it!
Am I getting too cynical? I've thought all week about the fact that the people who ended up at the Superdome (and stranded in the city in general) would be people who were the most poor, the sickest, the weakest among us. And very little white skin to be found among the stranded. Hmmm.
So why is it that water and MREs weren't dropped into these sites on Tuesday morning? We can do this in Baghdad but not here?
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