Don't Blame Bush for Katrina

George Bush and the federal government are not to blame for the disaster we have witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In fact, the primary responsibility for the disaster response lies with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and other local officials.

Yet leading Democrats and their allies in the major media are clearly using this disaster for political purposes and ignoring one obvious fact.

This fact – which needs to be repeated and remembered – is that in our country, state and local governments have primary responsibility in dealing with local disasters.

The founding fathers devised a federal system of government – one that has served us remarkably well through great disasters that have befallen America over more than two centuries.

But if we believe the major TV networks, George Bush, FEMA and the Republicans in Congress are all to blame for the current nightmare.

Let's remember that FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was created only in 1979. It was formed to coordinate and focus federal response to major disasters – to "assist" local and state governments.

Common sense suggests that local and state governments are best able to prepare and plan for local disasters.

Is a Washington bureaucrat better suited to prepare for an earthquake in San Francisco, a hurricane in Florida, or a terrorist act in New York?

After the Sept. 11 attacks against the World Trade Center, no one suggested that the Bush administration should have been responsible for New York's disaster response or that federal agents should have been involved in the rescue of those trapped in the buildings.

Last year, four major hurricanes slammed into Florida. Governor Jeb Bush led the disaster response and did a remarkable job, with nothing happening like what we have seen in New Orleans.

The primary response in disasters has always come from local communities and state governments.

First responders and the manpower to deal with emergencies come from local communities: police, fire and medical. Under our federal system, these local departments answer to local authorities, not those in Washington. These first responders are not even under federal control, nor do they have to follow federal orders.

State National Guards answer first to the governor of each state, not to the president. The National Guard exists not to defend one state from an invasion by another state, but primarily for emergencies like the one we have witnessed in New Orleans and in other areas impacted by Katrina. (See: http://www.arng.army.mil/about_us/organization/command_structure.asp)

The media would have you believe that this disaster was worsened by a slow response from President Bush and his administration, though the primary responsibility for disaster response has always been with local and state governments.

It is true that federal response was not as fast as it could have been. The president himself has acknowledged that fact.

But the press has focused on the first 48 hours of federal response, not uttering a word about the fact that New Orleans had 48 hours of warning that a major Category 4 or 5 would make landfall near the city, yet local officials apparently did little to prepare.

And New Orleans' city leaders did almost nothing to evacuate the portion of the population with no transportation. In failing to follow their own evacuation plan, these officials did little to pre-position food, water and personnel to deal with the aftermath.

I was surprised Sunday to watch Tim Russert, on his show "Meet the Press," tear into Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. During his encounter with Chertoff, Russert did not suggest once that local government had any role in dealing with the disaster. Russert also asked for Chertoff's resignation.

It wasn't until after the first 29 minutes of his show – 29 minutes – that Russert raised the question of local responsibility. And when he did so with Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, he did so in a passing way. Broussard brushed off his question with a non-answer.

Broussard began his interview claiming that the nation had "abandoned" New Orleans.

Broussard, who was never identified by "Meet the Press" as a Democrat, spent much of his time attacking the Bush administration, as has Democratic New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Broussard then ended his performance as he collapsed in tears with a demand: "For God's sake, just shut up and send us somebody!"

His tears didn't wash with me. My sympathies lie with the tens of thousands of people who have suffered or died because local officials like Broussard, Mayor Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco, also a Democrat, failed monumentally at their jobs.

As former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial told Russert, the disaster in New Orleans was "foreseeable."

In fact, New Orleans has long known that such a disaster could take place if a major hurricane hit the city.

The municipality even prepared its own "City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan."

The plan makes it evident that New Orleans knew that evacuation of the civilian population was the primary responsibility of the city – not the federal government.

As established by the City of New Orleans Charter, the government has jurisdiction and responsibility in disaster response. City government shall coordinate its efforts through the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

The city document also makes clear that decisions involving a proper and orderly evacuation lie with the governor, mayor and local authorities. Nowhere is the president or federal government even mentioned:

The authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane is conferred to the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The Governor is granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from a stricken or threatened area within the State, if he deems this action necessary for the preservation of life or other disaster mitigation, response or recovery. The same power to order an evacuation conferred upon the Governor is also delegated to each political subdivision of the State by Executive Order. This authority empowers the chief elected official of New Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the evacuation of the parish residents threatened by an approaching hurricane.

It is clear the city also recognized that it would need to move large portions of its population, and it would need to prepare for such an eventuality:

The City of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Those evacuated will be directed to temporary sheltering and feeding facilities as needed. When specific routes of progress are required, evacuees will be directed to those routes. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed. ...

Evacuation procedures for small scale and localized evacuations are conducted per the SOPs of the New Orleans Fire Department and the New Orleans Police Department. However, due to the sheer size and number of persons to be evacuated, should a major tropical weather system or other catastrophic event threaten or impact the area, specifically directed long range planning and coordination of resources and responsibilities efforts must be undertaken. [You can read New Orleans' Emergency Plan for hurricanes at its Web site: http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26]

The city's plan also specifically called for the use of city-owned buses and school buses to evacuate the population. These were apparently never deployed, though the Parish of Plaquemines just south of the city evacuated its population using school buses.

The plan, written well before Katrina was even a teardrop in God's eye, was obviously never heeded or implemented by local leaders.

But why should the New Orleans mayor and Governor Blanco take responsibility when they can blame George Bush and the Republicans in Washington?

With congressional elections fast approaching, Democrats who are out of power in every branch of the federal government know they need to change the tide quickly.

They have apparently seized on the Katrina disaster to harm the president politically.

Criticism of the federal government's response is fair and warranted. But putting full responsibility for this disaster on the Bush administration is way over the top.

Primary responsibility for this disaster remains with local officials like Nagin and Blanco, not President Bush.

The Congress will see all the facts and the NO,LA Gov will be found to be totally incompetent. Bush wanted to start to get FEMA rolling on Sat night but Blanco refused.

I bet because Dem politico said we don't want help from Bush...tell that to the people that lost loved ones. I hate to see anybody left behind and those pictures of all the bueses now useless are a fact that Mayor Nagin will never escape.

It is not the Pres of the US to make the decision to request FEMA help...it is the local Gov, the liberals should be ashamed of themselves but that is a fact that will never happen.

Tim Russert is a total jerk off that hates Bush and will do and say anything to hurt him. The American people will not believe the media's slanted stories..never. We have been too used to their personal opinions instead of the facts about the story they report on but that is because the word from upstairs comes down. The US media is the Al Jerzza of or country...I loathe them... abletruth...out..again

I hate to say it I have been thinking the same thing...The Art of War "Attack Your Enemy When He Is the Most Vulerable"

But one difference is that we don't incompetents like Blanco/Nagin as the leaders, we saw how well Bush did on 9/11 so I am not worried...but it would not be good.
able

PS Will the liberals ever admit they are unfit to lead this nation or a major city...I do like Richardson in NM, and Zell I would vote for them...well mayne..

able out again I am crashing...

Have a great labor day and don't let the media lie about what really happened in NO,LA

I am so tired over everyone believing the MSM. And I think they believe themselves.

What the h#ll can we do to get the truth out? If a conservative or Republican says it, the bigshot media says "Consider the source," and no one believes us. If a liberal says it (Goldberg or others), they say that he's crossed over and is a lapdog of the right.

Yet many, many people believe the MSM that aren't actual liberals, just gullible, busy people. They see it in the paper or on the news, and it's TRUTH to them. I am tired of swimming upstream telling all the libs and apoliticos in my life the truth and them not believing me, thinking I am corrupted by some far-right lunatics.

Yes indeed, if there are any who should be subject to charges of criminal negligence, it is Nagin and Blanco.

The Feds did trumpet the emergency declaration as far in advance as the meteorological info could provide in light of the relative accuracy of projected landfall, which is by no means a perfected art/science.

It is in fact the unpredictable nature of these tempestuous sea monsters that complicates pre-positioning and pre-mobilization of response assets. ... Many of the ignorant talking-heads in the media and their agenda-driven malcontented accomplices just don't get it. You don't put your disaster response assets in the bulls-eye for the sake of being close, ... doing so risks losing them as well, ... it's a no-brainer. You have to stand off far enough to be able to survive the fall-out, and that may mean hundreds of miles.

The Katrina scenario, had it taken place almost anywhere else, most likely would not have been as devastating, ... primarily because NOLA's unique geography is not duplicated in any other major metro area, ... and secondly, because most other coastal target areas are perhaps more attentive to their liabilities and have addressed them - federal assistance or not.

You have to ask the question, ... did Nagin, NOLA, and Blanco spend as much time and effort on disaster preparedness as the do/did on preparing for Mardi Gras?

Primary responsibility for this disaster remains with local officials like Nagin and Blanco, not President Bush.

Both Nagin and Blanco were aware, I imagine, of this 2005 study

Citizen Hurricane Evacuation Behavior in Southeastern Louisiana: A Twelve Parish Survey Released by The Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Taskforce

And the study's conclusion (page 6) that

The number of low income residents who remain in harm’s way
illustrates the need for both
education about the need to travel far enough
and
providing evacuation assistance to those without means

Nagin is a communications expert. Right?

Did Nagin explain to his low income citizens that they needed to travel a good distance from their homes and should not merely go to the home of a nearby relative?

I don't have to ask if Nagin helped with their evacuation.

I think a lot of the problem here is trying to throw all of the blame at the government; federal, state, and local. As cruel as this is going to sound, I think much of the failure rests on the shoulders of those who stayed behind. People have grown complacent to the threat of natural disasters and depended on the government to save them if the situation got bad enough.

What happened was a sort of welfare of personal safety where people thought that, no matter how bad it got, the government was going to be able to be there fast enough to save their lives. This is not possible. Complete dependence on the government for personal safety has proven fatal.

Nagin is beginning to strike me as an actor, who's got his cues mixed up.

Nagin exploded with emotion at Bush on the radio, after his own citizens were killed through his own negligence.

On the other hand, he acted too calm when he was telling his citizens to evacuate.

This is a comment from a blog on the afternoon of August 27th.

I may be wrong - but it sems [sic] to me that the laid back attitude (more in demeanor than in action, but in some actions, too) your Mayor has taken has diminished the numbers of people who left New Orelans in time. And I can not understand why every school bus in the state has not been commandered to get the poorest, most vulnerable people away from danger.

The Southern Louisiana Evacuation Plan specifically stated that people without private transportation were to be transported on public buses. Here is the original post of the plan

There were not just "200 buses". There were 200 buses in just one photo and Freepers studying the post-Katrina satellite images have counted over 400 buses altogether at other city parking.

At 70 people per bus that is 28,000 people per round trip that could have been taken out of the storm surge area in the 48 hours prior the Katrina striking.

After the storm hit, what makes you think that buses sent from outside of New Orleans could drive through the flooded mess any better than the 145 New Orleans city buses that were parked 1.2 miles away from the Superdome?

Was Scotty supposed to beam the outside buses to the Superdome and them beam them back out so that they would not have to drive through impassable roads?

The time to evacuate those 200,000 low-income people on public buses OUT OF THE STORM SURGE ZONE was BEFORE the Category 4 storm struck.

That was what the Southern Louisiana Evacuation Plan for New Orleans specifically called for.

The Democrat Governor and the Democrat Mayor did NOTHING to carry out that portion of the plan. They left 200,000 low-income resident abandoned and they now blame the Federal Government for not having Scotty beam down a massive logistics effort after a human disaster of their own making.

I think the mayor and governor are mostly to blame for one main reason. Well, actually two.

1. They encouraged thousands of people to congregate at the dome and convention center without providing any food, water, bathrooms, or security for at least three days. This is the height of ignorance. With all the buses they had they could at least have used those places for staging areas to then bus the people out. Additionally, had they had some food, water, and security, the three day wait would not have been a big deal.

2. The buses. Its criminal for what they did in not utilizing the buses to get people out.

I really don't see how GWB gets any blame here. Blanco said she and Nagin had it under control. It was only until it was obvious that the whole thing was a cluster F$%^% that the feds had to intervene.

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