Just like most people in America I’ve been watching the reports from New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast and wondering what the hell is going on. I’m all the adjectives everybody’s been throwing around: shocked, horrified, disgusted, angry, etc.
My first instinct is also like most peoples’ and that is to find someone to blame. But from past experiences (all bad) like this I’ve learned to vent those sentiments on someone I trust (my wife), wait for the emotions to simmer down and then do some serious pondering. Here’s where my first round of pondering leaves me:
- The president is an easy target. I haven’t liked his style or his policies for a while now and of course my first instinct was to say, "Damnit, it’s all his fault for (fill in the litany of reasons here)." Well, you know, we hired the president and the other leaders in this country. Ultimately it’s our fault for not demanding better services, better policies, better people to run this country.
- It’s OUR tax dollars, no matter what Brit Hume and his a-hole buddies think. Not mine, not yours, not theirs. It’s ours. That means that we must demand to know why those tax dollars can’t be used to protect our weak and vulnerable compatriots. Right now this isn’t about poverty and welfare, that’s a longer, larger debate for another time. It’s about the fact that a natural disaster has occured within America’s own confines, something that can happen to any one of us, and we weren’t there to help. I say "we" because this is our country, these are our hired hands that failed to prepare adequately.
- I have no problem with people asking the president and the rest of the leadership tough questions now, and not later. Why? Because it lights a fire under the asses of those who are giving the orders. I have no doubt that the grunts are working their butts off in incredibly hard circumstances, but it seems painfully obvious that someone needs to push the people at the top. Case in point:
- How the hell did the leadership not have some kind of system in place to regularly check all of the major buildings in New Orleans for survivors, especially in the dry areas? If a reporter and an entertainer (Harry Connick, Jr.) can get to the convention center and find thousands of starving people in desperate need of help how can leaders not know that? Their response when asked about the convention center was "We just found out about it." That’s crap. And now that they know about it, where’s the help? At a minimum can’t they just drop some water there for some people? ** Update: at about 2:50 on Friday CNN reported that a relief convoy made it to the Convention Center.**
- We’re responsible for this. As such we should do whatever it takes to help, and if that means writing a check to whomever then I guess we need to do it. But when things are settled down we need to ask why the checks we write to Uncle Sam every year aren’t sufficient to at least provide the minimum of what I government is supposed to provide and that’s the protection of our citizens from unnecessary death and destruction. Remember, we have our next chance to hire and fire the leadership of this country next year.
- We need to send the message that this is our country, all of us together. We should demand that at a minimum the government will provide protection for our people. Our employees have screwed up and we need to put the screws to them. Enough is enough.
Finally, I want to say to everyone that I’m sorry. The adjective I didn’t use before to describe my reaction is the one feeling that dominates my soul today: regret. I regret not being more forceful in communicating my demands to our leaders. I regret not being more involved, for being too moderate. In my own small way I’m responsible for what has happened this week, and for that I’m eternally sorry. I’ll try and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
My family and friends already know that I don’t care if we’re talking Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians or Independents because they’re all the same to me. I care only about what they actually do, and I can tell you I’m not satisfied with what we’ve got now and if I have anything to do with it they’re gone as soon as possible.
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Befuddled 
Jon,
This week was dominated by talk about this and that in the wake of the hurricane. I agree the Fed Government, especially the President becomes the target; however I disagree with pointing the finger at the Federal Government.
Here are some comments:
1) Everyone has known for years about New Orleans vulnerability to a major hurricane force and yet it seems that the Mayor, governor and the state had NO plan of what to do. They send everyone to the Dome at the last minute. They had two-three days to put a security force in the dome, supply it with food and water, beds etc and they failed. If a plan of attacked had been implemented (they had forever to plan for this) would the situation had been anywhere near what it is? Simply by being ready could have saved a lot of the problems. Now it falls back onto the Federal Government. If I were the Fed Government I would have felt blindsided by Louisiana’s lack of planning.
2) Everyone keeps pointing to the infrastructure. New Orleans is BELOW sea-level, and it is amazing the systems in place have worked this long—it might be the 10th wonder of the USA. Regardless of the levees being built to withstand a Cat3 or 4 or 5 hurricane the system would fail somewhere/sometime.
3) No one could have predicted the amount of violence and looting that is on display. I agree under the circumstances break into the store and get food and water, maybe a change of clothes—but TV’s DVD’s or breaking into others homes —ouch!
4) FEMA – under the circumstances is light – but let’s remember this hurricane just flooded parts of Florida two days before. And at the time the people in Florida needed help.
5) There are other areas just as bad as New Orleans!
6) Let’s remember the news media is going to focus on the worse of worse, some things did go right.
7) Logistically, with the bridge across Lake Ponchatrain ruined and roadways clogged and boats unable to navigate the waters, getting into New Orleans is a huge task. This is why the City and state should have ALREADY had things in the city to help those who would be stranded. By implemeanting ANY plan would have given the FED’s (and others)time to do things right.
8) I, like many feel bad for the poor; they had nothing before the storm and are worse off now. It is sad to hear that some could not fill their gas tanks to get out of town, because they lacked the money.
9) Hindsight is always great, could the Fed Government have been more responsive – yes. Quicker to respond –yes. But in retrospect, the mayor, governor and the state of Louisiana failed miserably.
10) Now let’s talk about the price gauging taking place at the gas tank…these companies are as bad as the thugs that are looting, rapping and shooting at the National Guard in New Orleans…only they are doing it “Legally”.
11) There is a boldness built over time because things do NOT happen. How many times have you sat in your house with a tornedo warning, and nothing happens? It is easy to point fingers, but the next time a tornedo warning comes — with the tornedo and wipes out your house, people in New York (or any other state) will say, “whay were they not ready”?
Rich,
I agree with you that the leaders in the city and state should be held responsible for their part as well. But that doesn’t relieve the federal government at all. I bet if you reviewed the disaster planning for all states and major cities there would be a point in each of them where they bring in the Feds for support.
But you and I don’t live in New Orleans, or Louisiana, or Mississippi so we have no say in local leadership. We do have a say in our national leadership and I think that any way you look at it they’ve screwed the pooch and we need to replace these jokers with people that can protect us and help us when we need them.
You’re also right that other places are as bad off as New Orleans, but the plain and simple truth is that no other place has such a concentration of people in trouble. My question still remains at how a reporter can find 20,000 people in a Convention Center and have that be the first word that the leadership gets that people are there.
Think about it; no matter how bad things are don’t you think it would be a basic necessity to stay on top of the situation, and part of that would be checking all the major facilities that could possibly draw people together. In any town one of those facilities would be the Convention Center, and particularly if the Convention Center is in one of the few places not under water. And we’re talking days here, not hours, that the people were stranded and no one had any idea. That’s just not acceptable.
As for the logistics of getting there, all I can say is that if a reporter and an entertainer can drive there so can the cavalry. In fact, once they got started they drove straight to it.
I also agree that the media is going to focus on the worst news, but they are also doing their job by raising these questions.
Agreed on your points about price gouging and the boldness.
Finally, I’ll end with a quote from Andrew Sullivan’s blog and from the comments of a cop in Las Vegas, which is an accurate reflection of what I’m trying to say:
Andrew Sullivan: Kevin Drum wants to say that the difference between conservatives and liberals is that liberals believe in funding organizations like FEMA or the Corps of Engineers and conservatives don’t. Nuh-huh. Real conservatives believe that the state should do a few things that no one else can do – defense, decent public education, police, law and order among the most obvious – and leave the rest to individuals. Funding FEMA and having a superb civil defense are very much part of conservatism’s real core. It’s when government decides to reshape society, redistribute wealth, socially engineer, and take over functions that the private sector can do just as well that conservatives draw the line. The reason I’m mad as hell over Katrina is precisely because I’m a conservative and this kind of thing is exactly what government is for. Bush in this sense is not now and never has been a conservative. A man who explodes government spending but can’t run a war or organize basic civil defense is simply a fiscally reckless incompetent. If this were a parliamentary system, we’d have a vote of no confidence. Instead we have three years of more peril.
Las Vegas Cop: Being a Republican means that you expect the government to do just a couple things for you and nothing else. Build a road. Defend us from enemies, foreign and domestic. Stuff that would be a lot less organized if we all had to do it ourselves. Everything else is just gravy.
And as we poured money into Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, I thought, “Right on,” because some of that money’s bound to fall on my head.
Well, something else would fall on my head first.
I work for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. And that means that if something really catastrophic happens in MY city, and they ask me to stick around, that’s the job. We have A and B teams and I’m a disaster recovery specialist on Team A. I’ve drawn up plans with names like Drawbridge and Smoldering Crater.
Here’s what these people would do for me.
They would leave me there to die.
Look at the facts. There’s no coordination on the ground right now. The city has no fresh water, no electricity, no services. The floodwater has so much oil and toxins in it that it’s flammable….
We have known that this sort of disaster could occur for a century. Hell, the tour bus driver told me about it on the plantation tour. This means that we have been able to envision the stark reality of this occurring for a week-the newspapers all said the storm would hit New Orleans last Thursday.
A week to get buses? A week to get fishing boats? Trucks? This is the United States! I read someone who said, “All the people who weren’t bedridden, or had money, or had cars left. The people that are left had none of those things.”
There are people tonight who are going to sleep on overpasses for the fourth straight night. There are prisoners who will do the same. There are people dying at a convention center because no one will tell them that no one is coming for them, and the National Guard is protecting the kitchens. There are police officers who are turning in their badges because they’ve lost everything, have no guidance, and don’t want to be shot by a looter.