Ok enough. If you can blame Bush for the plight of the poor in N.O. after reading the truth then you are unreachable. This is the truth.
The real truth about Katrina is that Mayor Nagen of New Orleans, a black man, and Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a white Democrat, have failed their constituancy. What is even worse is they lack the character to admit mistakes and step up. Theyre not leaders. Theyre vote getters.
Case in point. While it is true that New Orleans is demolished, so is the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Its not flooded, but virtually everything from coast for a quarter mile inland is gone. Is there a great hue and cry about George Bush failing those displaced people? No, because their leaders, the mayors of Gulf Port, Biloxi and other small towns, and their Govenor, Haley Barbor, are leaders. They prepared their people and their communities before the storm, to deal with what might be the reality after the storm. They are bouncing back together.
WHAT HAPPENED IN NEW ORLEANS?
People that could have left, didnt. Why? Ask them. If they had the means and method to leave, and most people did, they are reaping the consequences of their own decision. Thats not Bushs fault. They deserve help, short term and long term, and they are getting it, but they are there because they decided to stay.
WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO COULDNT LEAVE?
Look at the picture below.
What is wrong with this picture? Its the fact that busses are sitting empty in a flooded parking lot instead of in Baton Rouge or some other nearby town.
Read this excerpt from Louisianas disaster plan, pg 13, para 5 , dated 01/00, as published on the Drudge Report.
The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating
Why Mayor Nagen? Why are they sitting there? If the poor black people of New Orleans needed a way out, why Jesse Jackson, are those school busses sitting there? Why Kanye West, didnt Mayor Nagen use his authority to fill those busses with gas and send them out to the neighborhoods that needed them the most. THATS HIS JOB!
All Mayor Nagen has given his people after Katrina is finger pointing and hysterics. If he would have been their leader before the storm hit, he could have been their hero today.
And what of Gov. Kathleen Blanco? I have yet to see a press conference where she didnt have the deer in the headlights stare. If only the good people of New Orleans had Mary Landreau as their govenor. Ive seen two press conferences where Mary Landreau was helping Kathleen Blanco mouth the words to her prepared statements because Blanco was lost. I understand she is personally devastated, but in times of crisis, LEADERS MUST LEAD! It is the job they asked for and if they fail in doing it, should someone else be held accountable?
WHAT HAPPENED TO ADVANCED PLANNING?
They way our government works, The govenor of a state must request assistance from the federal government. Blanco ordered 2000 national guardsmen on standby prior to the storm. 2000 troops to manage the evacuation of a half million people? Why were more troops not in place before the storm? Why wasnt more equipment for levee repair and rescue operations in place before the storm? WHY DIDNT SHE ORDER MAYOR NAGEN TO SEND THOSE STATE OWNED SCHOOL BUSSES INTO THOSE NEIGHBORHOODS WHERE PEOPLE NEEDED THEM?
Nobody can be blamed for Katrina. It is a natural disaster. But local and state officials in New Orleans and Louisiana went AWOL when their people needed their leadership the most. Now they, and others, want to blame
.who? George Bush. Mayor Nagen and Gov. Blanco cant pass this buck, but what they can do is step forward and accept the yoke of leadership now, because the hardest part is yet to come.
There it is. Now tell me its Bush's fault and I'll listen. Btw, I didnt write this. And it didnt come from a bush bashing liberal site, you wont hear the truth there.
