Bush: The Only President to Lose an American City
Remember when no WMDs were found in Iraq and Bush responded with some stupid clowning by looking behind his chair, etc? This time, he's lost an American city but doesn't seem to remember. There's no bad joke looking behind his chair this time. There's just dead silence. It took Democrat Jim Webb to remember New Oreans the night Bush gave his State of the Union. New Orleans is the state of the union, a staggering symbol and reality of Republican indifference.
Here's Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post:
I've known decent Republicans all my life but I don't know these Republicans that run things in Washington who can't be bothered to lift a hand for their fellow Americans. What they did to New Orleans, they can do to any American city. If they can be that indifferent to New Orleans and a good part of the Gulf, it doesn't take much for them to be indifferent to tens of millions of Americans. There's something wrong in America and it begins in the offices in the West Wing of the White House where power counts more than the voice of the American people.
Here's Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post:
More infuriating than anything George W. Bush said in his State of the Union address was what he didn't say. Congress and the nation heard nothing, zilch, nada, not a single, solitary word about New Orleans, the Gulf Coast and the devastation that remains from the worst natural disaster in United States history.
A disaster that happened on his watch. How nice that the White House has been able to move beyond the trauma of September 2005 -- wind and water, death and destruction, poverty and race, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Too bad the people of New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, Pass Christian, Biloxi and the rest of the coast will never have the luxury of forgetting.
(snip)
What kind of president can see one of the nation's greatest, most historic cities ruined and not make its rebirth his highest priority? What kind of president gives a State of the Union and doesn't even mention New Orleans?
I've known decent Republicans all my life but I don't know these Republicans that run things in Washington who can't be bothered to lift a hand for their fellow Americans. What they did to New Orleans, they can do to any American city. If they can be that indifferent to New Orleans and a good part of the Gulf, it doesn't take much for them to be indifferent to tens of millions of Americans. There's something wrong in America and it begins in the offices in the West Wing of the White House where power counts more than the voice of the American people.
Labels: Bush, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Senator Webb
posted by Craig at 10:54 PM
3 Comments:
Political calculation and political priorities at work.
I've thought about this, too. I'm sure Bush and/or Rove have concluded the president's name is mud regarding New Orleans and that mentioning it only serves to performance during and after the storm. Remind people how lame FEMA had become under him. Remind them how his big promises the place would get fixed were mostly just big promises.
Meanwhile another botched job, Iraq, vies for money and manpower, and will get the lion's share of both. What did Bush ask for, for another stab at refurbishing Baghdad? It was $1.6 billion, I think. That money would do a lot of refurbishing in the Crescent City, probably with much less waste, fraud and abuse. But no, if it's appropriated, it will go to Iraq where it will likely do little if any lasting good.
Whith Bush & Co. it's all politics all the time.
S.W., good comments. It might be a smart move by Congress to pass on more money for Iraq reconstruction and simply use that money for New Orleans and the gulf. Let me know what you think.
I think if Bush wants more money for Iraq and doesn't get it, little old retired American ladies who need help having enough heat in winter and food and medicine year 'round will get stiffed in favor of new demoltion practice targets for the mad bombers of Iraq.
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