September 2, 2005

"Not acceptable."

I'm glad to see President Bush is beginning to take a tougher stance about the problems with Katrina relief:
"A lot of people are working hard to help those who've been affected, and I want to thank the people for their efforts," Bush said before leaving the White House for a tour of the devastated areas in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. "The results are not acceptable."

Expressions of hope in the strength of the human spirit only go so far. At some point, they just sound out-of-touch and lame. I want to see better leadership from Bush and think perhaps he's gotten that message. Do more!

7 comments:

Steven Taylor said...

I concur.

I thought that the initial criticisms (especially the over-the-top ones that focused on the idea Bush was somehow responsible for the levee breaks) to be uncalled for.

However, we need clear leadership and decisive action. Platitudes ain't gonna cut it.

Bruce Hayden said...

Not quite sure what you want here from Mr. Bush. Someone in another thread suggested that if Jimmy Carter were still president, he would be leading the charge in a row boat - and getting in everyone's way.

Maybe the problem that he is being more CEO than leader. And maybe what we need now is a Clinton leading and a Bush managing. This is the sort of thing that I think Bill Clinton would have been good at - feeling eveyone's pain, etc.

But keep in mind that President Bush has really done a much better job here than either the governor or the mayor. He was the one pushing them to evacuate. He declared the area a disaster area before the huricane hit. As a CEO, he has been working quietly and effectively to bring federal resources to bear on the situation.

Anonymous said...

It feels like none of these authorities really know how this is supposed to go. It's as though everybody at the top level is improvising and trying to find the right person on the phone or something. Given that a hurricane hitting NO was one of the most aniticipated disasters of the last century, that's not so good.

Discoordination on this scale is not due to malevolance or incompetence alone - it is the symptom of a governing atmosphere that allows partisanship and turf to erode essential levels of cooperation across parties, departments and jurisdictions.

Does anyone doubt that the same cultural obstructions that kept the FBI and the CIA from sharing info pre-9/11 is to blame for the inability of the states and feds and aid agencies to have a plan that works in place right now to deal with this disaster?

As a society, we are becoming far to comfortagble letting our political enemies stew when we really need to work with them. That's goes for everyone at the level of the presidency, all the way down to the voters.

Peter Hoh said...

The President just promised to rebuild New Orleans just the way it was before. Hmm.

jeff said...

You know, it's got to be somewhat annoying for all those people coordinating things and trying to get stuff accomplished down there to have a few thousand useless minicam crews wandering around trying to fulfill the American (and world) public's desire to rubberneck and monday morning quarterback.

Unknown said...

I just saw Bush on TV in the zone. He's taking reports from the commanders, and they all have that "the boss is here" look.

I think he's kicking butt. More!

Ruth Anne Adams said...
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