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THINKING TIME REQUESTED
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin puts some heat on Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco:
Nagin singled out Gov. Kathleen Blanco for criticism, saying that the governor had asked for 24 hours to think over a decision when time was a luxury that no one, especially refugees, had.
“When the president and the governor got here, I said, ‘Mr. President, Madame Governor, you two have to get in synch. If you don’t, more people are going to die.”
Blanco and Bush met privately at his insistence, Nagin said, after which Bush came out and told Nagin that he had given Blanco two options, and she requested a full day to decide.
“It would have been great if we could have walked off Air Force One and told the world we had it all worked out,” Nagin said. “It didn’t happen, and more people died.”
Plenty of blame here to go around. It takes a lot of officials and committees and Federal plans and state authorities for a situation to turn out this poorly.
Nagin states in the article, “You tell me what else I was supposed to do.”
Well, I am not there, and I admit to being among the strident critics of the state and local response. My comments could be considered sniping from the sidelines, using my 20/20 hindsight. But I’ll keep on criticizing the state and local response, because they were directly responsible for that response. I’m certain (from long and sad experience) that the Federal response is far less than efficient, partly confused, and a maze of bureaucratic nightmares. Been there, done that. But that same Federal assistance bailed them out by providing something to the survivors. From what I have see from official and news media sources, the Federal response was pretty much in line with the National Response Plan. I am not so convinced that the local and state response was…..especially after reading this article.
I’m hoping that there is a relatively objective after action report on this, at all levels. We need it. This won’t be the last such disaster event the United States, and we need to learn from it. Without the pathetic political crap and hysteria building we all see coming out of the ruins.
Reading the full article, it looks like Nagin is not dealing well with his stress. This is hardly surprising, and I hope he deals with it, or he will not last the race. But stress does have a way of breaking down the barriers we all impose upon ourselves. It’s also possible that he thinks that he did all that he could do. I can’t say that he is right or wrong in that regards.
But I think that his comments have a grain of truth in them, especially in regards to the relationship between the Governor and the President. If accurate, it’s clear that the Governor wasn’t dealing with the situation very well. The President, on the other hand, was doing pretty much what was set in the plan, in a timely manner. Some people simply don’t do well in emergencies. Some do. Here, we have an example of both.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 05 at 04:17 AM • permalinkPS:
It’s also clear that Nagin is still trying to blame someone else for the situation. He needs to get a grip on that—he bears the responsibility for his decisions, regardless of what the Governor or President did, or didn’t, do. Pixy’s use of the word “weasel” is highly appropriate.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 05 at 04:19 AM • permalink“You tell me what else I was supposed to do.”
Isn’t a “Mayor” supposed to know what to do? Isn’t it kinda like a job qualification?
Posted by nofixedabode on 2005 09 05 at 04:42 AM • permalinkI think on a previous thread someone was accusing us of being Bush-lovers with our leap to reaction to the current criticism.
You would hope it would be obvious that the local and state authorities have the first responsibility for disaster relief, hopefully well aided from the federal government.
I don’t think anyone is saying Bush and the feds have done everything perfectly but the disproportionate attacks on Bush versus the state governments have made it impossible to do anything but defend Bush.
If nothing more the Bush-bashing left have been a handy tool of the Governor and Mayor whose main objective over the last few days has been to handball as much blame to Washington as possible.
Then again, looks like the Federal response went off as planned:
... the federal plan advises state and local emergency managers not to expect federal aid for 72 to 96 hours, and base their own preparedness efforts on the need to be self-sufficient for at least that period. “Fundamentally the first breakdown occurred at the local level,” said one state official who works with FEMA. ‘Did the city have the situational awareness of what was going on within its borders? The answer was no.”
Posted by nofixedabode on 2005 09 05 at 05:17 AM • permalinkHow many lives has the Bush bashing saved? How many people has it fed and housed?
Is the president some magical guy who waves his wand and makes all of everyone’s responsibilities fade away?
A CAT4 storm in a CAT3 city pretty much doomed NO from the start. But those buses should have been full of evacuees leaving, and bringing back supplies 24/7 starting Monday afternoon. That is clearly the mayor’s problem, and that is clearly the biggest screw up of weeek.
The actual thing that would work, if you have a million victims, is a million people helping each other. It scales with population, and covers all the corners.
Having a mandatory rowboat tethered to each house would have helped, if you’re living under the sea. It wouldn’t be popular because it doesn’t rely on government. You’d have people rowing around and no controls beating them into huddled submissive masses.
Old ladies would be taking their pets and nobody to tell them differently.
I’m struck by the difference in reaction to disaster between the citizens of NO and, say, London during the Blitz. Not too much of the ‘Bulldog Breed’ mentality evident in NO.
The welfare state didn’t get underway in the UK until 1945, so it’s not the existence or lack of transfer payments to the indigent. Anyone care to ‘contrast and compare’ in a little light psychoanalysis?
Posted by walterplinge on 2005 09 05 at 06:39 AM • permalinkSadly the people in New Orleans have shown they are ‘of poor character’ - if asked 10 days ago wether were anything like the struggling 3rd worlder’s in Aceh and Sri Lanka they would have huffed and puffed and said “NO - we’re Americans” - but when put to the test they have collapsed.
The common decent things people usually do in a disaster - helping others, bonding together etc, are not in evidence.
All we’ve seen are selfish criminal acts of looting, rape and assault with those survivors rescued from the rising waters quickly turning their havens into reeking pig sties of human shit, piss and refuse without the slightest attempt to organise themselves, pick up their rubbish, shit in the same hole and look after the injured, elderly and sick.
Where is the simple leadership normally in evidence when common people are brought together in adversity - think of the residents of Sarajevo under a murderous bombardment, the people in Turkey after massive earthquakes, Mexicans struggling from under their earthquake smashed homes, the Thais pitching in to help the tourists after the Tsunami and the Balinese stripped of their livelihoods, with many of their number killed or horribly injured, giving their all to help their western visitors shocked and burnt after the Bali bombings.
None of this seems to have happened in New Orleans - the people there just seem happy to sit in their own filth and blame anyone and everyone for everything without trying to help themselves.
Every day I read or hear of wonderfully brave and selfless acts being performed by US Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen in Iraq and Afghanistan – how ashamed they must feel of their `easy-way-out’ countrymen and women.
But then again as the ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN and other alphabet news organisations are quick to remind us, it’s Chimpy McBush Hitler Hallibuton’s fault the Hurricane formed, struck the `mainly black areas’ and the flood waters rose.
And he deliberately didn’t send help so the poor and black would die!
What a sad pack of cunts the the mainstream media are …
OT Mark Steyn off hook. Media Watch devotes its 15 minutes of infamy to the John Brogden affair.
What’s the bet that Mr Steyn is not mentioned again..
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2005 09 05 at 07:36 AM • permalinkWhere was the planning? They should have brought in Sean Penn the very next day.
Posted by Paul Zrimsek on 2005 09 05 at 08:03 AM • permalinkI’ve visited New Orleans three times in the past year. Yes, I love the city. But I found it interesting while driving around the core city that certain sections are comprised of small shotgun houses inhabited by the very poor. At any time of the day (morning, early afternoon, evening), I would see many of them simply lounging in front of their houses, talking, doing whatever. I sort of envied them for their lacksadasical carefree approach to life.
I can’t be sure but I have a hunch that many of the people who did not leave chose not to leave for reasons other than money. That is not necessarily a poor decision if they thought this storm would be like the countless others that swung east or west of the city at the last moment. And then again, maybe they didn’t even try to make a decision, but just let whatever will happen to happen.
It was a gamble, and they lost on it. Life is often like that.
Posted by wronwright on 2005 09 05 at 09:15 AM • permalink#15 OldDigger—just want to draw a bit more attention to some of your qualifiers here:
not in evidence
All we’ve seen
None of this seems to have happened
No question that much of the behavior we have seen so far is terrible, gut wrenching, impossible to condone… but recognize the media and coverage is skewed here. Perspective requires distance and time.
#14 WalterPlinge: Perhaps in 65 years, the thousands of stories of heroism, selflessness, and sacrifice that I believe are occurring right now in the wake of this catastrophe will be acknowledged by all and the shameful behavior of those given “the stage” today will be seen as what I believe it is: a shameful, but small, percent of the million-plus people whose lives have changed forever by this devastation.
The media witch busied herself slagging the telegraph for smearing Brogden.
Sadly,she then proceeded to lay out all the salacious,slimy details that I and possibly most viewers were unaware of.Thus making a bad situation considerably worse and a mockery of her so called concern for Brogden.A good time was had by all at media hq (except the audience and the long suffering family concerned.)Debo: I was about to say much the same thing. CNN et al are up to their old tricks—they head straight for the juiciest, most dramatic thing happening—if they can get an African American carrying on like Butterfly McQueen in Gone With the Wind then they’ve struck gold (but you dassen’t calls them racist!), and they focus on it, repeating the clip ad nauseum, until everyone is either convinced that Chimperor Bushitler and the Dark Lord Karlrove sat in the Oval Office laughing at the increasingly frantic pleas for help from the Governer of Louisiana as New Orleans drowned, or else that all black people are children incapable of taking care of themselves. They and their camera crews will trample a National Guardsman saving an old lady from a burning building to get to the homeless crack addict screeching “Bush caused the hurricane! My daddy died in my arms! Bush wants to kill all the black people!” Because keeping the racial divide open is good for ratings.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2005 09 05 at 10:20 AM • permalinkYou tell me what else I was supposed to do.
Just imagine Rudy Giuliani saying this. You can’t, can you? Or 15% of the NYPD deserting their posts. This is a city that doesn’t care.
Posted by Tommy Shanks on 2005 09 05 at 10:46 AM • permalinkThey and their camera crews will trample a National Guardsman saving an old lady from a burning building to get to the homeless crack addict screeching “Bush caused the hurricane! My daddy died in my arms! Bush wants to kill all the black people!” Because keeping the racial divide open is good for ratings.
Now that is a statement worthy of an Instalanche. One of the best posts I’ve ever read, and will remember it over the years as new info comes in on this one.
No Giuiliani-type leader has emerged from this disaster. There probably isn’t going to be one.
Due to the federal nature of the American government, responsibilities are shared among the various local/state/federal governmental entities. State governors must request help from the the feds. It appears that Governor Blanco did not request help as early as she should have.
There is lots of blame to go around, but when this whole sorry episode is evaluated, President Bush will not be the scapegoat .
Posted by Mystery Meat on 2005 09 05 at 11:23 AM • permalinkRemember, there are Four States in the declared disaster area.
* Here’s what Gov Balbour (Miss) had to say: MEMA Press Conference
* Here’s what Gov Riley (Ala) is doing: Operation Golden Rule
* Here’s what Gov Bush (Fla) has been up to: DISASTER RESPONSE AID TO MISSISSIPPIThe leadership demonstrated here seems, to me, to be stellar.
Let me get this straight: The mayor of a major city faced with a horrible natural disaster, <u>sends</u> the governor of his state and the President of the United States off to a private meeting <u>that he doesn’t even attend</u> and he wants to know what else he should have done?
Well:
You could have started moving your elderly and incapable out of the city the minute Bush declared a disaster area FOUR DAYS before the storm hit.
You could have started moving your violent
prisoners out of your freaking jails the minute Bush declared a disaster area FOUR DAYS before the storm hit, instead of turning them loose on the streets.You could have started moving canned food, water and porto-johns in the damned arena the minute Bush declared a disaster area FOUR DAYS before the storm hit.
NONE of that needs a note from the White House, now, does it?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 09 05 at 01:26 PM • permalinkCertainly, I’m opening myself up to a cat-5 storm of indignation, but the very fact remains, that even if it may be the result of years of injustice and maltreatment at the hands of white oppressors, the American black community is a very, very corrosive social element. I feel most sorry for those black people of good moral character who have to suffer the effects of all of the negative stereotyping that is invited upon them by the savagery of their co-ethnics.
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Methinks he sounds very like a weasel.