If Bush was a Strong, decisive leader, we wouldnt see stories like this one!!!!but..of course he is not....

[reeds]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Katrina delivered a heavy political blow to President George W. Bush, potentially crippling his second-term domestic agenda and undermining Republican prospects in next year's congressional elections, political analysts said on Tuesday.

"There's going to be significant and long-term damage to Bush, especially because this disaster comes on the heels of a slow bleeding of his approval ratings over the past year that accelerated over the summer," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Before the hurricane struck, Bush's approval ratings had fallen to some of the lowest of his presidency -- 45 percent in Fox News and Gallup polls taken at the end of last month and 41 percent in a CBS poll. Voters were expressing growing disenchantment with the war in Iraq and high gasoline prices.

Now, those prices have skyrocketed and Americans face a winter of high prices at the pump combined with heating oil prices that are double or higher what they were last year.

"If gas prices and heating oil remain where they are, every elected official in Washington, D.C., is going to be in trouble. It's unacceptable to people because many won't be able to bear the cost," said one senior Republican congressional staffer, who asked not to be named.

Bush has certainly proven himself a resilient politician in the past and some Republicans believe he can recover his standing by ensuring that hurricane cleanup and recovery efforts go smoothly after the initial failures.

But the images of a city drowning while the government stood by, seemingly unable to help desperate people, will not fade quickly, said pollster John Zogby.

"Those scenes are not going to go away. Bush can recover a bit through damage control but those early impressions could be devastating for him and could hurt his party," Zogby said.

The pictures struck at Bush's most important political asset -- his image of being a strong, decisive leader.

At the least, Bush's domestic agenda is now thrown into disarray. His Social Security reform plan already seemed dead but Republicans in Congress were about to make tax cuts enacted in Bush's first term permanent. Also looming was a difficult and divisive debate about immigration reform.

The effect may be to accelerate the process by which second term presidents turn into lame ducks in their final two years.

"The hurricane and its aftermath will overarch all other agenda items for the rest of this year and maybe beyond," said Tom Rath, a prominent Republican activist in New Hampshire.

MAKE IT RIGHT

"The one thing the administration can do is concentrate all its efforts on getting things right along the Gulf of Mexico. They must grab hold of the situation and make it right. That's the right thing to do and it's also the right political thing to do," he said.

As the immediate emergency fades, Congress is likely to hold hearings and possibly appoint a commission to investigate the many failures that took place before and after the hurricane hit. Many individuals and organizations are likely to come under criticism, but as President Harry Truman famously noted, "The buck stops here."

The congressional staffer said: "This event affected four states. Who else could have been in charge but the president?"

Added Rath: "There will be plenty of blame to go around but if you take credit for the sunshine, you also get blamed for the rain."

Democrats so far have been slow to criticize, but that is sure to change. Setting the tone, House of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Bush displayed a "failure of leadership," as the crisis unfolded.

"What is needed in a response like this is one that minimizes death and disease, which minimizes the front assault that this makes on the livelihood of the American people," Pelosi said, "If there's any lesson to be learned, it's that this response was not appropriate."

Looking forward to the November 2006 mid-term elections, even before the hurricane many analysts said the political environment was looking unfavorable for Republicans.

But Republican political consultant Rick Davis said voters would not be thinking of what happened in 2005 when they entered the ballot box.

"It depends more on what's happening a year from now, on whether the administration has met peoples' needs," he said.

[EricaLubarsky]

a lot of mistakes on Bush's part that I could have seen done by other presidents. Cutting the FEMA budget, accepting level 3 levees, etc but I just think its way too early for those of us that weren't directly affected to make this political.

[Flip41]

You might want to look at the person who is in charge of the City of New Orleans, before you lay all of the blame on Bush. The Mayor could have done many things differently to make this tragedy not as bad as it turned out. I think I will wait untill all of the information is obtained before I get too caught up in who's at fault.

[dude1394]

As usual al-reuters doesn' t know what they are talking about. And certainly Zogby ("john kerry will win") has no credibility. He is projecting again..

First responders are.....the city...second....the state....third the federal guvment. Al-reuters knows this, but it also knows that some knuclehead will read this fantasy and think it might be true.

Bush from reports had to tell the dumb-as-rocks governor(or mayor) to evacuate.

Funny isn't it. 9/11 occurs and Guilliani is one of the first there. Katrina occurs and the city mayor and state government are whinning like little bitches for protection. Of course both incompetent democrats.

Keep dreaming Zogby.

[LRB]

Erica has the right advice, that it's way too early to be passing judgement on Bush or even on the NO mayor. We don't have all the facts and there really is no reason to rush to judgement while there are still thousands needing rescue, food, and shelter.

As for your title it is total fabrication. There is nothing that Bush could do as president to stop stories like the one you posted. That is the sad fact of political life in the US. If Bush walked across the Gulf on water, waived his right hand and restored to life all those who had perished in the strom and waived his left hand and restored all the physical damage to the condition that it was before the storm, the democrats would still find or invent something to criticize him on.

[Mavdog]

Originally posted by: dude1394
As usual al-reuters doesn' t know what they are talking about. And certainly Zogby ("john kerry will win") has no credibility. He is projecting again..

First responders are.....the city...second....the state....third the federal guvment. Al-reuters knows this, but it also knows that some knuclehead will read this fantasy and think it might be true.

Bush from reports had to tell the dumb-as-rocks governor(or mayor) to evacuate.

Funny isn't it. 9/11 occurs and Guilliani is one of the first there. Katrina occurs and the city mayor and state government are whinning like little bitches for protection. Of course both incompetent democrats.

Keep dreaming Zogby.

uh, Mayor Nagin issued an evacuation order before the storm even hit the city. he was there from start to finish.

from your perspective, FEMA isn't there for this very type of situation (it is) and in hindsight it was just hunky-dory that a very unqualified person (oh yeah, he was his predecessor's college buddy/roommate) was appointed Bush by to head the agency.

there's plenty to criticize, and blame can be spread out all over the place.

[Drbio]

Mayor Nagin had over 450 buses at his disposal to use for evacuation pre-Katrina and decided against it. He evacuated and came back....hardly there start to finish. He also looked awfully well fed and watered through the whole ordeal and spent an awful lot of time not in the streets but on camera. The mayor deserves plenty of questioning and blame.

[FishForLunch]

The Mayor and the Gov meant well they hoped FEMA will bail them out, but the idiots at Fema were too tied up with red tape to help in a timley manner. You cant expect the democrats to actually take leadership, after all they have Bush to blame if things go wrong.

[Mavdog]

FEMA is a group who is there for emergencies (see "Emergency Management" is in its name). This was an emergency, but it appears FEMA didn't see it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEMA Chief Sent Help Only When Storm Ended By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 7, 2:18 AM ET

The top U.S. disaster official waited hours after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast before he proposed to his boss sending at least 1,000 Homeland Security workers into the region to support rescuers, internal documents show.

Part of the mission, according to the documents obtained by The Associated Press, was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.

Acknowledging that such a move would take two days, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29.

Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged the first department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged.

Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as "this near catastrophic event" but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities."

The initial responses of the government and Brown came under escalating criticism as the breadth of destruction and death grew. President Bush and Congress on Tuesday pledged separate investigations into the federal response to Katrina. "Governments at all levels failed," said Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Brown had positioned front-line rescue teams and Coast Guard helicopters before the storm. Brown's memo on Aug. 29 aimed to assemble the necessary federal work force to support the rescues, establish communications, and coordinate with victims and community groups, Knocke said.

Instead of rescuing people or recovering bodies, these employees would focus on helping victims find the help they needed, he said.

"There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and what didn't work," Knocke said. "Clearly there will be time for blame to be assigned and to learn from some of the successful efforts."

Brown's memo told employees that among their duties, they would be expected to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public."

"FEMA response and recovery operations are a top priority of the department and as we know, one of yours," Brown wrote Chertoff. He proposed sending 1,000 Homeland Security Department employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within seven days.

Knocke said the 48-hour period indicated for the Homeland employees was to ensure they had adequate training. "They were training to help the lifesavers," Knocke said.

Employees required a supervisor's approval and at least 24 hours of disaster training in Maryland, Florida or Georgia. "You must be physically able to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day," Brown wrote.

The same day Brown wrote Chertoff, Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown said it was vital to coordinate fire and rescue efforts.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (news, bio, voting record), D-Md., said Tuesday that Brown should resign.

After a senators-only briefing by Chertoff and other Cabinet members, Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record) said lawmakers weren't getting their questions answered.

"What people up there want to know, Democrats and Republicans, is what is the challenge ahead, how are you handling that and what did you do wrong in the past," said Schumer, D-N.Y.

Meanwhile, the airline industry said the government's request for help evacuating storm victims didn't come until late Thursday afternoon. The president of the Air Transport Association, James May, said the Homeland Security Department called then to ask whether the group could participate in an airlift for refugees.

[dude1394]

Yea...it's all bush's fault. He's now supposed to go into the city halls and personally create their emergency evacuation plans. The democrats continue to be a party that is too irresponsible to hold office.

In New Orleans, as we now know, the numbers who didn't evacuate were multiplied dramatically by the city's unusual immobility: Some 57,000 households in Orleans Parish did not own a car. A University of New Orleans study published in July noted that only 48 percent of the inhabitants of Orleans Parish had a definite evacuation plan. Susan Howell, one of the study's authors, says emergency managers knew of this immobile population and had discussed them, inconclusively: "There was no comprehensive plan to get them out." The city made no provision either for the people who wouldn't leave or for the people who couldn't. On the day before the storm, the "mandatory evacuation" was announced over the radio -- but there were no officials delivering a personal message, let alone distributing toe tags. The interstates out of New Orleans were turned into one-way roads -- but there were no buses, trains or ships for those who couldn't drive. The city initially won praise for evacuating some 80 percent of 1.4 million area residents, but no provision -- in the form of rations, water bottles, security -- was made for the 25,000 people who showed up, predictably, at the Superdome, the city's designated "shelter of last resort."

[mary]

Originally posted by: Drbio
Mayor Nagin had over 450 buses at his disposal to use for evacuation pre-Katrina and decided against it. He evacuated and came back....hardly there start to finish. He also looked awfully well fed and watered through the whole ordeal and spent an awful lot of time not in the streets but on camera. The mayor deserves plenty of questioning and blame.

I'm not going to be one that believes our Federal agencies are blameless - because I don't believe they are (and yes, I include the President in that group).

However, the fact that the Mayor did not follow the existing evacuation plan is pretty unexcusable. To make matters worse, those buses were not moved to higher ground and were also flooded.

Given that major screw up, I believe that the Mayor is sincerely trying his best for his city right now, and its unfair to make judgements about his sincerity based on his outward appearance, or the fact that he's done interviews.

Of course he's been in front of the camera....that is part of his role.

[mary]

Double Post.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: Mavdog



from your perspective, FEMA isn't there for this very type of situation (it is) and in hindsight it was just hunky-dory that a very unqualified person (oh yeah, he was his predecessor's college buddy/roommate) was appointed Bush by to head the agency.

That the current head of FEMA was the college buddy/roommate of the former head of FEMA has nothing to do with whether he is or is not qualified for the job. It seems to me that the chief objections that democrats have to him is that he was appointed by a republican president. Had this been a Clinton appointee then democrats would most likely have found some other target, most likely a repbulican. This is about politics, not about what was or was not done correctly to help victims of Katrina.

And I think we have far too little facts and it's far too early to be accurately assessing any blame.

[Mavdog]

Originally posted by: LRB
That the current head of FEMA was the college buddy/roommate of the former head of FEMA has nothing to do with whether he is or is not qualified for the job. It seems to me that the chief objections that democrats have to him is that he was appointed by a republican president. Had this been a Clinton appointee then democrats would most likely have found some other target, most likely a repbulican. This is about politics, not about what was or was not done correctly to help victims of Katrina.

IMO this was clearly treated as a political patronage job when it shouldn't have. I don't care what party a president belongs to, this position is too critical (as evidenced by this situation) to treat in that manner. Brown did not have the resume or experience to be put in the position.

And I think we have far too little facts and it's far too early to be accurately assessing any blame.

blame is clear, the levees were not adequate. The above article tho does have facts, facts which do not put Mr. Brown in a positive light, but rather reveals just how unprepared he was.

[LRB]

blame is clear, the levees were not adequate. The above article tho does have facts, facts which do not put Mr. Brown in a positive light, but rather reveals just how unprepared he was.

Politics is the only thing that is clear here, blame certainly isn't. You mention the levees as being inadequate, but whose fault is that? according to one report it would have taken more than a decade to upgrade the levee's sufficiently to withstand Katrina. So is it Clinton's fault?

As for the article, it hardly gives the whole facts, just some of the facts. We don't know how accurate those facts are. Even if accurate there may be legitimate reasons for what they were taken.

I have no doubt that Brown made some mistakes, simply because he is human and this was an unprecendented disaster in size and scope. But if you want to play the blame game then go blame Nagin for not busing people out of the city who had no transportation or for having no food or water supplies available in the city's shelter of last resort or for a long laundry list of things that at 1st glance appear to be glaring mistakes. I think it's too early to blame either, because we don't have the full set of facts. But apparently you seem to feel you have enough, so I say if you must blame, blame Nagin 1st and foremost.

[Mavdog]

Originally posted by: LRB
Politics is the only thing that is clear here, blame certainly isn't. You mention the levees as being inadequate, but whose fault is that? according to one report it would have taken more than a decade to upgrade the levee's sufficiently to withstand Katrina. So is it Clinton's fault?

I repeat: the blame goes to a levee system that was not capable of withstanding the hurricane and its affect. That decision to not upgrade the levees more than likely extends for several decades.

As for the article, it hardly gives the whole facts, just some of the facts. We don't know how accurate those facts are. Even if accurate there may be legitimate reasons for what they were taken.

I have no doubt that Brown made some mistakes, simply because he is human and this was an unprecendented disaster in size and scope. But if you want to play the blame game then go blame Nagin for not busing people out of the city who had no transportation or for having no food or water supplies available in the city's shelter of last resort or for a long laundry list of things that at 1st glance appear to be glaring mistakes. I think it's too early to blame either, because we don't have the full set of facts. But apparently you seem to feel you have enough, so I say if you must blame, blame Nagin 1st and foremost.

oh, according to you we should just shrug off the failure by Brown to prepare for this event, after all it's just his JOB as head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (note the name:<u> emergency management</u>).

This was an emergency that the City could not deal with, and that is (surprise!) why there is a FEMA at all.

[LRB]

oh, according to you we should just shrug off the failure by Brown to prepare for this event, after all it's just his JOB as head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (note the name: emergency management).

This was an emergency that the City could not deal with, and that is (surprise!) why there is a FEMA at all.

No, but we shouldn't judge with only a partial set of facts. And FEMA did organize federal assistance when it became apparent that the city's and the state's response were inadequate and that they would not be so in any reasonable amount of time. The only question here is whether federal resources were unduely delayed by incompetence. And I say we just don't have enough facts to accurately judge. But what reason other than party politics are you so hasty to judge Brown, but yet you let Nagin totally slide. At least I'm advocating assimilating the whole set of facts, something that's hard to do since we're still in the middle of an emergency and need to concentrate efforts on helping the victims and not on fact finding, before passing judgement.

[Drbio]

Sorry mary but Nagin ran like a coward and then came back only to face the cameras and he a puppet hero. I understand the need for a mayor to give face time, but that's all we have gotten out of him. This message is one I believe, but only because I am hearing it from literally dozens of shelter evacuees here locally. As infomration is made available the people who are affected are directing their blame where it truly resides...not at the President, but at the Mayor and Governor of Louisiana. This is not my message but the message of those displaced. I've heard it over and over from those in the shelters.

[LRB]

Again, I say that there is plenty enough time to blame later, but in all honesty I do believe that Nagin, the Lousiana govenor, and Brown are doing all within their power now to help the victims. But none of them is doing a perfect job, but show me someone who is? We should focus on the victims until their immediate needs have been met and the full set of facts are out, then we can blame away. Those who are guilty will only look more guilty when all the facts are present, and we'll probably find some who we thought were very guilty that will have little blame to be assessed.

[mavsman55]

I wouldn't blame anybody for this. It's safe to say that both Mr. Nagin and Mr. Bush did everything they could to help these people, and the fact that it didn't happen as efficiently is unfortunate. However, the situation is over, and blaming people for it isn't going to help a thing.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: mavsman55
I wouldn't blame anybody for this. It's safe to say that both Mr. Nagin and Mr. Bush did everything they could to help these people, and the fact that it didn't happen as efficiently is unfortunate. However, the situation is over, and blaming people for it isn't going to help a thing.

I agree that it's too early to blame, but the situation needs to be evaluated to see how we can do better in the future. Further more if we find officials whether elected or appointed who acted with gross incompetence, they need to be removed from office so that they can do no more damage in the future. It may be we find none who acted with gross incompetence, although most probably made many mistakes. Blame is also a natural consequence of our present political system and is so deeply ingrained in our political culture that it is not reasonable to expect it to be delayed indefinitely. However, hopefully we can delay a good bit until we at least have the full set of facts present and have stabalized the situation in providing for the survivors needs.

[mary]

First responders are.....the city...second....the state....third the federal guvment. Al-reuters knows this, but it also knows that some knuclehead will read this fantasy and think it might be true.

I hope you're not suggesting that there was no jurisidiction at the Federal level on the day of the hurricane. I've read that on several message boards, but that is false.

Bush declared a "state of emergency" the day before the hurricane hit. That gave FEMA the authority to act.

Unless I'm confused, I thought that was the purpose was of declaring a "state of emergency" - it allows the federal government to override administrative processes that would normally be in place.

[dude1394]

What I understood was that the federal government in generals role was to provide dollars and clean-up expertise. Look at the request that the governor made of the federal government and it was pretty much dollar related I thought. Here is an addendum

In addition, I anticipate the need for debris removal, which poses an
immediate threat to lives, public health, and safety.

request for emergency order

Are you saying that FEMA should have unilaterally declared marshall law, brought in the military and shot looters on sight? I'm not thinking so. Again usually it's the city and state that coordinate this. The federal government will do what is asked of them.

I may be off-base, but I thought that was how it worked in our federal system.

Update: thisisfema is about the closest I could come to FEMA's published charter. In general it looks to me like a government agency that assists the cities/states where needed. From reading the test it seems to be both proactive and reactive. Proactive in that it assists communities to prepare disaster plans, reactive in that it helps those communities where needed.

I don't get the sense that it's supposed to be leading the first responders.

[mary]

What I'm saying is that FEMA had jurisdiction to provide relief efforts, just like the President had the legal authority to deploy the National Guard.

What I'm saying is that jurisdiction existed at the Federal level - and so this line that the Feds did nothing wrong because their hands were tied by red tape, is a bunch of bs.

[dude1394]

To be honest I don't know if the feds did anything wrong or not. I am pretty sure however that the first responders are the city police, the state national guard and law enforcement agencies. The hand wringing about the feds doing something within 24-48 hours is crapola imo. They just don't move that fast. However...I do believe that the moved material, personnel into position to assist where needed.

[mary]

Again usually it's the city and state that coordinate this. The federal government will do what is asked of them.

I agree with this statement, this is what *usually* happens. But its my understanding the federal agencies are not bound by this process, when a state of emergency has been declared.

Then again, we don't *usually* see entire cities wiped out, so we're a bit behind on the learning curve.

Since this was an extremely *unusual* occurence, I'm dissappointed that we couldn't find a way to get past our bureaucratic processes to save a few more lives.

[Mavdog]

as i understand it, the executive (state gov or local mayor) has to make the request to the pres for the State of Emergency to be declared, then when the dec is made it allows FEMA to act.

from wikipedia:
FEMA has responsibilities in what it defines as four domains of emergency management:

Mitigation: Reducing the severity or likelihood of the hazard.
Preparedness: Ensuring you have the capability to respond to the hazard.
Response: Immediate actions taken to save lives, property, the environment, and the economy.
Recovery: Subsequent actions taken to restore property, jobs, and services

[mary]

as i understand it, the executive (state gov or local mayor) has to make the request to the pres for the State of Emergency to be declared, then when the dec is made it allows FEMA to act.

I think we are in agreement. SOE was declared the day before the Hurricane hit, and this is when FEMA was "allowed" to act.

[Drbio]

FEMA could not act until the governor of Louisiana authorized them to do so. The emergency declaration was done to release financial resources and put FEMA on standby. To say FEMA could act on day one is factually incorrect.

Also, are you really implying that you expected FEMA to be on the ground on Day One? That's crazy. They would have lost many of their resources. Also, they couldn't get in anyway due to the extensive damage. By most accounts, they got in asap. There are many areas of improvement sure, but bashing FEMA is misdirected for the most part.

I diasagree about bashing Nagin. He is trying to assign blame all over and has accepted ZERO responsibility. That is patently wrong. His were the absolute first failures.

[dude1394]

Pretty solid analysis imo and will be hard,hard,hard for the guvment of La to take...I'm sure.

steve graham

Some choice bits.

Let's start with one simple fact. States and cities bear primary responsibility for preparing for and responding to their own problems, and Louisiana and New Orleans get a big fat "F" for their efforts. They can blame Bush all they want, but the fact remains, they blew it big-time and caused a catastrophe to which an adequate federal response was virtually impossible. It's amazing, how talking heads and Democrat politicians-and even some Louisiana Republicans-are trying to make this a federal failure. When did the federal government become society's diaper? If you don't take reasonable care of yourselves, shouldn't you expect to have terrible problems while Uncle Sam gears up to save you from yourself? How can anyone pretend to be surprised, or that the federal government is chiefly to blame?

Look at the failures on the local level.

1. Locals chose not to pay for an adequate flood control system. It was well within their means, and they had almost three hundred years to get it done. When they complain about the "Bush-Dominated" Congress's evil refusal to foot the whole bill, and they tell us how much more money was needed, they themselves quote a figure of about sixty million dollars. Don't tell me an entire state couldn't come up with sixty million dollars. As a reader of mine pointed out, they somehow came up with a hundred and thirty-eight million dollars to pay for a football stadium. But they chose to buy a Category Three system instead of the obviously necessary Category Five system......

2. After assuring eventual disaster by refusing to pay for flood control projects, local officials failed to respond quickly enough to the threat of storm damage. They had a plan in place, and they failed to follow it. They were aware that many citizens had no transportation, yet they failed to identify them and take them to shelters. Here in Florida (and everywhere else), we respond to the approach of hurricanes by notifying FEMA, setting up shelters, and issuing evacuation orders well in advance of landfall......

3. A large number of local citizens refused to evacuate, ensuring that they and their children and pets would die. We're not supposed to talk about this, because it's "blaming the victims." I'm sorry to ask this, but when a person is a victim because of his own irresponsibility or bad judgment, isn't it an injustice to blame his suffering on someone else?.....

4. The New Orleans police have disappeared. A deputy commander had the gall to blame the National Guard for taking two whole days to show up, and then for amusing themselves during down time by playing cards. Meanwhile, his own officers are gone, and some are too busy shoplifting to do their jobs. .....

5. Evacuation holdouts are shooting at the police and the Guard and contractors and everyone else they can draw a bead on. Call me crazy, but I think this discourages and slows down rescue efforts. General Honore has confirmed that in interviews. Even liberal Sean Penn wore a bulletproof vest on his highly publicized rescue missions. Here in Miami, after Andrew, people shot looters, not the police (who stayed on the job, unlike the New Orleans cops).....

[mary]

Originally posted by: Drbio
FEMA could not act until the governor of Louisiana authorized them to do so. The emergency declaration was done to release financial resources and put FEMA on standby. To say FEMA could act on day one is factually incorrect.

Also, are you really implying that you expected FEMA to be on the ground on Day One? That's crazy. They would have lost many of their resources. Also, they couldn't get in anyway due to the extensive damage. By most accounts, they got in asap. There are many areas of improvement sure, but bashing FEMA is misdirected for the most part.

I diasagree about bashing Nagin. He is trying to assign blame all over and has accepted ZERO responsibility. That is patently wrong. His were the absolute first failures.

Since I'm not an expert, there's always a chance that I'm wrong. But I've always thought the purpose of declaring a SOE, was to give federal agencies powers and jurisdiction that they would not have otherwise. Otherwise, what's the point? Pretty much every article I've read from every resource has complained that FEMA's response was too slow. The president himself described the overall response as "unacceptable".

Do I think FEMA should've been on the ground on Day One? Maybe.

Do I think the Army Corp of Engineers should've been kept in New Orleans while the storm hit? Perhaps.

Do I think Michael Brown waited too long to recruit volunteers for relief efforts? Yeah....I do.

Do I think Mayor Nagin needs to accept some responsibility? Without a doubt.

[Drbio]

The point is to make federal funds (and in some cases physical resources) available right away. However, in cases such as these, the State governor must ask for help. Even now, the governor has not released control of the guard to the federal gov't, which is extroirdinarily odd.

[mary]

From Foxnews, the weekend before (AP actually)

The president's emergency declaration authorizes the FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and to provide appropriate assistance in a number of Louisiana parishes, or counties.,

[dude1394]

Here is what the Democrat Senator from Louisiana believes is the proper order.has to say about it.

Federalism & Katrina

Emergency management operations for disasters include three phases: preparedness, response, and recovery. In the preparedness phase, state and local governments administer emergency preparedness programs with ongoing activites to help ensure that they are ready to respond to disasters. The Louisiana Department of Emergency Preparedness is responsible for all initial damage assessment prior to federal involvement.

[Drbio]

mary - trust me on this one. I've got personal experience and a lot of it in this field.

[mary]

Originally posted by: Drbio
The point is to make federal funds (and in some cases physical resources) available right away. However, in cases such as these, the State governor must ask for help. Even now, the governor has not released control of the guard to the federal gov't, which is extroirdinarily odd.

I have been wondering why didn't Bush just federalize the National Guard in the first place. After doing some reading, it may be because of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which basically disallows the military from acting as police. Posse Comitatus does not apply to the National Guard as long as the Guard remains in state status.

But once they are federalized, Posse Comitatus goes into effect. There are ways to navigate around it in regards to drug-enforcement and terrorism issues, but I don't know about a case like this.

The Stafford Act (which I think was referenced by the Governor's Statement (AKA her official request for help dated 8/27) that's linked by Dude, but I haven't gone back to check) allows the President to use Federal military upon request of the Governor, but those forces would still be prohibited from taking an active role in civilian law enforcement.

I honestly don't know if this is relevant to anyone's decision making, but it does appear that by federalizing the Guard, you lose some flexibility. Plus, I just thought it was an interesting read.

[dude1394]

Seems as though the NYTimes also wasn't too happy about money being spent on levees. Until now when they can bash a bush or two. What a rag.

Anyone who cares about responsible budgeting and the health of America’s rivers and wetlands should pay attention to a bill now before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill would shovel $17 billion at the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and other water-related projects – this at a time when President Bush is asking for major cuts in Medicaid and other important domestic programs. Among these projects is a $2.7 billion boondoggle on the Mississippi River that has twice flunked inspection by the National Academy of Sciences.

The Government Accountability Office and other watchdogs accuse the corps of routinely inflating the economic benefits of its projects. And environmentalists blame it for turning free-flowing rivers into lifeless canals and destroying millions of acres of wetlands – usually in the name of flood control and navigation but mostly to satisfy Congress’s appetite for pork.

This is a bad piece of legislation.

[dude1394]

ABC News

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 6, 2005 — In New Orleans, those in peril and those in power have pointed the finger squarely at the federal government for the delayed relief effort.

But experts say when natural disasters strike, it is the primary responsibility of state and local governments — not the federal government — to respond.

New Orleans' own comprehensive emergency plan raises the specter of "having large numbers of people … stranded" and promises "the city … will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas."

"Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves," the plan states.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, however, that plan was not followed completely.

Instead of sending city buses to evacuate those who could not make it out on their own, people in New Orleans were told to go to the Superdome and the Convention Center, where no one provided sufficient sustenance or security.

[dude1394]

Keep it up dems...You'll manage to raise dubya's poll numbers yet.

CNNUSATODAYGALLUP POLL: ONLY 13% BLAME BUSH?
Wed Sep 07 2005 10:42:26 ET

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of 609 adults taken September 5-6 shows:

Blame Game -- 13% said George W. Bush is "most responsible for the problems in New Orleans after the hurricane"; 18% said "federal agencies"; 25% said "state and local officials"; 38% said "no one is to blame"; 6% had no opinion. -- 29% said that "top officials in the federal agencies responsible for handling emergencies should be fired"; 63% said they should not; 8% had no opinion.

MORE

Government Performance -- 10% said George W. Bush has done a "great" job in "responding to the hurricane and subsequent flooding"; 25% said "good"; 21% said "neither good nor bad"; 18% said "bad"; 24% said "terrible"; 2% had no opinion. -- 8% said federal government agencies responsible for handling emergencies have done a "great" job in "responding to the hurricane and subsequent flooding"; 27% said "good"; 20% said "neither good nor bad"; 20% said "bad"; 22% said "terrible"; 3% had no opinion. -- 7% said state and local officials in Louisiana have done a "great" job in "responding to the hurricane and subsequent flooding"; 30% said "good"; 23% said "neither good nor bad"; 20% said "bad"; 15% said "terrible"; 5% had no opinion.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: dude1394
Seems as though the NYTimes also wasn't too happy about money being spent on levees. Until now when they can bash a bush or two. What a rag.

Question: Does Howard Dean, Jessie Jackson, and Al Sharpton consider the NY Times a racist paper since they opposed efforts that would have saved thousands of poor black lives?