New Orleans Katrina Summit Full of Information and Debate (Duncan Hunter vs. Hillary/Edwards!)

The Katrina and Rita “Hope and Recovery Summit” in New Orleans hosted by US Senator Mary Landrieu on Monday had an almost surreal texture to it.

Aside from the mixture of University Presidents, law enforcement agents, housing advocates, business leaders, President Bush’s Gulf Coast Coordinator, Don Powell, participating in the all-day event, it included an element of political show business—rock star Presidential candidates running for the top position in the land, and yes, talking about Katrina. The Presidential discussion was peppered with questions by Soledad O’Brien of CNN.

Without doubt, the Presidential forum was not the sole substance of the program but, indeed, was the crown jewel.

Throughout the day, the experts discussed Katrina-plus two. Wednesday will be the second anniversary of Katrina engulfing New Orleans. There was plenty of business on the table such as high crime, low housing, weak levees, and questionable federal commitments.

But, the fireworks and the glamour really started when the Presidential candidates—Democrats Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Republican Duncan Hunter took the sole stand facing O’Brien.

Former Republican presidential hopeful, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had spoken earlier during the day and was not a part of the Presidential candidate face-O’Brien evening discussion. Huckabee argued that Katrina could occur anywhere in the United States through the form of many types of natural disaster and was not limited to New Orleans or the Gulf Coast. He mentioned that Arkansas had its own disaster risks and the universality of disaster and response mechanism was critical in American government.

Without doubt, the Presidential focus upon New Orleans was a show full of spice and hot sauce.

Candidates Clinton and Edwards were somewhat predictable in their responses since they have presented them recently at different forums in New Orleans. Both candidates were substantially critical of President Bush, his administration and the Republican Congress for their responses post-Katrina. The GOP had been in power of the federal government since the beginning of 2007.

Unquestionably, Hunter took the most heat as he attempted to focus upon the importance of self reliance and de-emphasized the need to rely upon the federal government. That philosophy obviously did not sit well with the moderator, O’Brien or with the audience.

In many respects, there was a dichotomy between two republicans, Huckabee and Hunter, two individuals who personally provided service to the Katrina victims. While Huckabee focused upon the devastation quality of nature, Hunter, to the dismay of many in the crowd and seemingly to Soledad O’Brien--engaged in a debate with the CNN moderator over the philosophy of rebuilding New Orleans and the type of hurricane protection needed. Hunter implied that the federal response should be dependent upon the number of people needing protection and said that government, in general, was incompetent.

In many ways the Presidential candidate discourse underscored the division among Republicans in Congress and the total disdain that the leading Democratic Presidential candidates have for President Bush and his Katrina policies

The superstar forum also underscored that-- like Iraq--New Orleans has no easy answers. The political volley, in many ways, might define the Presidential debate and Primary season over matters dealing with homeland security, natural disasters and infrastructure.

Hillary Clinton implied that New Orleans needed “hope, recovery and results”. In this very political season, it is obvious that the solemnity of Katrina anniversary of 2006 has evolved into the politics of begging for solutions and needed money during this second year post-disaster.

The Hope and Recovery Summit provided solitude to some and questions to many. It also established a format where New Orleans, disaster recovery and US infrastructure gets greater light--even in a venue that was under murky water, for weeks.

His speech there was simply Stellar:

Two years ago, when I entered New Orleans with Rescue Task Force, the onslaught of flood and destruction dominated this great cit With Andrea Becks, former NFL cornerback Scott Turner, Yuma Mayor Larry Nelson and businessman Roy Tyler, we brought food, water and 1,000 beds to the folks who were in the city and the refugee centers.

With the aid of an airboat driver who could do everything but fly, we were privileged to be a small part of the rescue effort. In those days the headline stories were all about the failure of government – the bureaucracy of FEMA, the difficulty in handling the looting and the snafus of evacuation.

But I saw a different story. It was the story of the great National Guard troops who we found holding the city together, the law enforcement personnel, and the fireman and rescue workers from all over the United States who interrupted their lives to rush to help the people of New Orleans. It was the huge team of volunteers I saw at Houma who were operating the rescue center to clothe, feed and care for people. It was the huge room of clothes stacked so high, with a sign that said, “Please no more clothes are needed.”

Today, $116 billion has been appropriated to remedy the effects of Katrina. The rebuilding effort includes: $17 billion for housing and community development; $8.4 billion for levees and flood control; $10 billion for Small Business Administration loans; and, $3.5 billion for highways and bridges.

But more important than the government programs is the way the citizens of our nation shape and are shaped by this massive hurricane disaster and its aftermath. There are those who portray the people of New Orleans as permanent victims, to whom government owes lifetime entitlements. They view every aspect of Katrina as somehow a reflection of the need for bigger, stronger government, almost to the point to where one wonders if they won’t assign political blame for the winds and waters of the hurricane itself.

I don’t see it that way. I see a great future for New Orleans, based not on what government does for people but because of what free people do for themselves. For every cynic who sees only government as the answer I see people as the answer.

I see optimistic professionals and business people coming to New Orleans to meet the challenge and the opportunity now presented by the rebuilding.

I see young people who might have fallen into a hopeless cycle of dependency on government welfare, now finding fulfillment in the hard work of rebuilding New Orleans.

I see top notch school administrators and educators picking up the challenge of Americans in New Orleans, who have new education dreams for their children, 57% of who attend charter schools.

I see rising from the destruction of Katrina, a new and profound appreciation for freedom. The real story of Katrina and New Orleans is not the inefficiency of government. That is a truth we have always known. The real story of New Orleans and Katrina is the millions of Americans who responded from their hearts, for their fellow citizens who live in this city.

From the senior citizens who gave a part of their fixed income, to the school children who assembled food packages, to the doctors and nurses who volunteered, to the fellow citizens of this state who donated mountains of clothes and food — every nation of the world has a government that responds to its disasters, but no nation has as many citizens willing to share what they have with their fellow man as this blessed land called America.

In 1812, Andrew Jackson and his frontier militia blocked a small passageway of land between an enemy army and this great city. American determination carried that day and New Orleans survived. Since that day, more than 800,000 Americans have given their lives on battlefields around the world so that we may walk, worship and work in freedom.

We succeeded in protecting our nation because we had faith in God and confidence in the goodness of the American people. If we here in New Orleans ask the question, where is the success of our future; is it in government? The answer is and has always has been; no. The success of our future, my friends, is within us, individual people.

It is within our character, the American character of faith in God, of honesty, of hard work, the willingness to take risks, individual accountability and a heart for our fellow citizens.

New Orleans, based on these values, will stand, always.

and of course it was brought out that Katrina hit and devastated other Gulf States also = and that President Bush had declared an emergency TWO days before Katrina, a first, in order for FEMA to get it's gear in gear and be at the gates of the states, ready for service...which it could not, by law, enter nor implement until the state and local officials (like Gov. Blanco and Nagel and the rest in Louisiana - dumRats all) gave permission, per States Rights.

It was also mentioned that New Orleans prerequisite Emergency Preparedness Plan, that are designed to take action immediately and hold the fort for the first 2 or more days while the Fed. Gov't gets equipment, etc, to the state...that plan, in NO, was only a paper-plan. No stocks of water, food, or evacuation measures. (I betcha there had plenty of money spent, on paper, for the nonexistent supplies, though.)

Also, some enterprising investigative reporter, or maybe even some Senator or congresscritter has put together a committee to get a concrete report on where the millions and millions of aid/rebuild monies that have been funneled to NO since Katrina, has been spent...

And Nagel will be indicted any day now to answer for his colossal negligence in his NON response during the emergency - and...

I'm sure these points were all brought up - I just missed 'em

“I love it. Just like at NALEO, Hunter carries his message to potentially hostile arenas...and doesn’t flinch. I LOVE it!”

I’ll never forget THIS:

“The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials invited all Republican presidential hopefuls to its annual convention at Disney World in Buena Vista, Fla.
Only one showed up — Rep. Duncan Hunter, of California.
A grateful audience gave Hunter a standing ovation Friday and some convention goers posed for snapshots with the congressman after his question and answer session.
Standing at the lone candidate podium which was decorated in red, white and blue, Hunter was asked about his plan to fix the nation’s immigration system.
“We need to build the fence and build it quickly,” he said.
An 854-foot fence would help national security, stop crime along the border, and protect the United States from terrorists, he said.
After the forum, he told reporters the fence would also keep people from dying in the desert of heat exhaustion.
“If 200 kids a year were dying in a canal the first thing you would do is fence it,” he said.
On Saturday, seven Democratic presidential candidates were slated to attend a forum at the NALEO conference, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Barack Obama of Illinois, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Joseph Biden of Delaware, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.”

Duncan Hunter has been the strongest politician on border security, and yet he recieved a standing ovation, when he was the ONLY Republican presidential candidate with the guts to show up at the National Association of Ltino Elected and Appointed Officials.

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