Mayor Orders the Evacuation of New Orleans
The news from New Orleans is almost too horrible for words:
City officials ordered everyone to leave New Orleans beginning Sunday morning — the first mandatory evacuation since Hurricane Katrina flooded the city three years ago — as Hurricane Gustav grew into what the city’s mayor on Saturday called “the storm of the century” and moved toward the Louisiana coast.I can't help thinking that this must be, on the eve of the Republican convention, John McCain's worst nightmare. The last thing he needs, as he tries to distance himself from the failings of the Bush administration, is the nation to be reminded of - in Obama's powerful phrase - "a government that sat on its hands while a major American city drowned before our eyes."
The mayor, C. Ray Nagin, said Hurricane Gustav was larger and more dangerous than Hurricane Katrina, and he pleaded with residents to get out or face flooding and life-threatening winds. “This is the mother of all storms, and I’m not sure we’ve seen anything like it,” Mr. Nagin said at an evening news briefing. “This is the real deal. This is not a test. For everyone thinking they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: that will be one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your life.”
And, lest we forget, Bush was actually with McCain, celebrating his birthday, whilst the people of New Orleans were abandoned.For what happened in New Orleans was the most dreadful example of the Republican philosophy that the government should not involve itself in the lives of the people and that, where possible, it should stay out of people's affairs.
Because of this flawed ideology the Bush administration failed to recognise that what was happening in front of their eyes was a national emergency and that it required a national response.
This wasn't some kind of oversight, this is what these people actually believe.
I remember Republicans at the time arguing that some private companies - Walmart, if I remember correctly, - had managed to get there with water before any Federal government employees and that this showed how the private sector was always better than government at handling emergencies.
What was scandalous about Katrina is that it represented a genuine Republican belief; and what must be scaring McCain now is that a reminder of that flawed thinking might be moving towards New Orleans at the very moment when he wants us all to forget what he and his party actually did.
McCain and his pretty - and almost comically unqualified - Vice Presidential candidate are said to be planning to visit Mississippi on Sunday to see how preparations for the storm are going.
He'll be working overtime to prove that his response would be different to Bush's, but every day he is forced to walk around talking about hurricanes and hurricane preparations, he'll simply be reminding everyone of the greatest scandal of the Bush administration. The days in which, "a government sat on its hands while a major American city drowned before our eyes."
We all hope that this hurricane does no damage, the people of New Orleans have suffered far too much already, but I suspect - for the most cynical reasons - McCain's is praying harder than any of us.
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4 comments:
I was there and I had family nearly lose everything, and may very well this time. The heights of incompetence that were the primary contributors to the situation down there were on the part of Mayor Nagin (Democrat) and former Louisiana state governor Kathleen Blanco (Democrat).
Mississippi and Florida had little problems with the federal response and handled their states correctly. Blanco on the other hand refused to allow the feds to come in immediately. Don't get me wrong, the FEMA response in LA was certainly flawed, but the tragedy that was witnessed could have been averted by Blanco and Nagin in the first place.
Of course, since those outside the state are usually more interested in using the tragedy of others to score political points, those truly responsible for the chaos usually get a free pass from those same people who would rather attack the feds out of partisanship. The locals however know what happened and that Blanco and Nagin are almost completely responsible.
Unfortunately this blog posts seems to fit in the category of "outsiders who know nothing but would never miss an opportunity to exploit a tragedy to serve their own political purposes." What a shame.
A "national disaster" is something which deserves a "national" response.
In Britain, where I write from, that wouldn't even be open to question.
How sad, that as someone who stood - and stands - to lose so much, that you ask so little of your "national" government.
I don't see where I did or didn't ask anything of the federal government. I am merely stating who is responsible for the bulk of the Katrina fiasco.
Since you are writing from the UK (I didn't catch that at first) then you likely are not aware of the separation of powers between the state and federal governments. That's understandable. Suffice it to say that any response requires cooperation between the state and federal governments.
What was needed was for the military to be called in and for a unified command structure to be established between state, local, and federal elements. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and the Insurrection Act of 1807 tie the federal governments hands when it comes to placing federal troops into the state. Further, without the unified command structure, efforts cannot be effectively coordinated amongst the various elements. Blanco stonewalled this amongst other things initially. Further she did not request mutual aid from other states as she should have until it was far too late.
The problem with the federal government's response boils down to a FEMA that was unprepared and poor management. However, they were not in a position to prevent the human tragedy that unfolded. Only Blanco and Nagin could have prevented that. The decisiveness of the governors of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida ensured that their states worked well with the feds. Unfortunately, Louisiana did not.
It's worth noting that after Katrina, the Insurrection Act was amended so that the federal government will now have an easier time putting federal troops into a state in time of natural disaster. At least this time it looks like all parties from the Mayor of NO, to the new LA governor, to the feds have there act together much better.
I think there is enough blame to be pushed around between both the state and the Federal government. And yes, living in the UK I am not fully up to date on the seperation of powers, although I am aware of the concept.
However, there is nothing I have written in this article that I would take back. I think the American system of relying on a local response to a national disaster is dumb.
And this was perceived as a negative turning point for the Bush presidency. Indeed, his numbers never recovered from this calamity.
In this post I am talking about McCain's reaction to Gustav in the light of Katrina and the Republican belief that government works best when it is small and keeps out of people's lives.
I think Katrina underlined the failure of that philosophy.
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