Posted on 01/21/2009 6:45:30 AM PST by Ebenezer
Prior to Katrina, George W. Bush was a relevant President, with decent approval ratings, a Republican majority in Congress and at least a limited legislative agenda. Post-Katrina, Bush was a failed President, unpopular with the voters, incapable of passing legislation in a Congress controlled by the opposition party. After the incompetent response to Katrina and the public relations debacle shown on national television, President Bush clearly lost not only his stride, but his support. Regardless of what the President said in his final news conference, the federal response was slow and inadequate. The coordination between the various levels of government was wretched and the point person that President Bush entrusted to lead the federal response was an incompetent fool who did not have the credentials for the position.
Instead of doing “a heck of a job’” Michael Brown of FEMA and his federal cohorts were overwhelmed by the ferocity and devastation of Katrina. Instead of flying over the scene of the hurricane, President Bush should have arrived and been on the ground to direct the response and show leadership.. Instead of attending a political event in Arizona and sending in federal relief 96 hours after Katrina hit, President Bush should have canceled his agenda and flooded the region with federal support immediately after the storm washed ashore.
Presidents are expected to plan for the worst and handle emergencies. While the President succeeded after the 9/11 attack, he failed to lead after Katrina. Eventually, federal relief poured into the region and many people risked their lives to save victims, but the images of local residents screaming for food, flooded in their homes and crying for help were not forgotten by the American people.
The next year after Katrina, the Republicans were routed in mid-term elections, losing ground in both the House and Senate. It was even worse in the 2008 election, which was a referendum on the Bush presidency. The American people spoke loudly and clearly that they had enough. Now the Republicans are fighting for survival in a hostile political environment and President Bush is one of the major reasons for the GOP decline.
Overall, the Bush legacy is certainly mixed not only due to his handling of Hurricane Katrina, but also due to his response to the other major events in his administration: the 9/11 terrorist attack, the Iraq war and the financial crisis. While his aggressive response to 9/11 has helped keep our nation safe since the terrorist attacks, his response to the other major events of his administration have been unsatisfactory.
In his last few months in office, President Bush has extended the debt obligations of this country by several trillion dollars. In a recent interview, the President boasted that he “abandoned free market principles.” This is not what voters expected from a supposedly conservative President. This is money that will never be paid back. This country is facing so much debt that future generations will be in the financial hole for decades. This President will go down in history as the biggest of the big spenders. He turned surpluses into deficits, doubled the national debt, added government entitlements and new bureaucracies and became bailout crazy.
Today, in my view, he deserves a grade of C-. Although his tax cuts were helpful to average Americans and he appointed two good Supreme Court judges, his negatives clearly outweigh his positives.
Of all of the mistakes of this administration, the response to Hurricane Katrina should rank among the worst. The President’s image and popularity never recovered from Katrina. It is an open question whether historians will change that image. At this point, his prospects for redemption are doubtful at best.
Pelican State ping
Once again, it's all Bush's fault. Never mind that the people of Louisiana made it clear THEY understood who was at primary fault, which is why Blanco didn't even bother running for re-election.
The new Bush Admin battle is on - writing the history. We ain't gonna let them win this one.
President Bush - "Hey you. Yes you. Lift that bale, tote that barge. Good. That's the spirit."
What a d!ckweed. Ever heard of hurricane Floyd? This guy is a putz. I guess everyone now looks to the federal government to save their b@tts. My America is long gone, I fear.
W lost his joementum after the 2004 re-election when he refused to fix the southern border.
“President Bush should have arrived and been on the ground to direct the response and show leadership.”
President Bush could not walk on water.
Michael Brown in his book is going to claim that he wanted to airlift the people out of New Orleans but was rejected by Homland Security. He even is going to claim that he wanted to put armed Marine guards on the flights for security, but this was rejected as well.
He also went on TV without any sleep.
I wonder why no on has ever asked Mich Landreu why he didn’t have the LANG evacuate the people from the Superdome instead of just delivering food.
And that's all the fault of the Bush Admin. Never mind that Louisiana and New Orleans did not have a plan to evacuate those without cars. Never mind that half the dead had a car in their driveway. Never mind that the state department of Homeland Security turned the Red Cross and the Salvation Army away from the Superdome. Never mind that Blanco blocked efforts to federalize the response.
Nah, it's all Bush's fault. And to think this guy touts himself as a conservative commentator. Guys like him are what is wrong with the GOP.
Sure, the federal response could have been better, but we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Its all about spin. The MSM, liberals, and Democrats successfully portrayed the Katrina debacle as ALL GWB's fault. That's it, in a nutshell.
Blanco was getting orders from the DNC the whole time. The Democrats saw Katrina as an opportunity to derail President Bush, days before the storm hit. After all it worked in 1992 with Hurricane Andrew, against his dad.
This mentality is going to take power from states and governors. In any national disaster from now on, be it a hurricane, a flood, or earthquake, the president will be forced to go in, all guns blazing, rather than risk looking “incompetent”, “indecisive”, or worst of all, “indifferent”. The rights of the state will be trampled, but at least they’ll make sure to get all those pesky guns collected.
Goebbels would have been proud.
In the case of San Diego, evacuees went to the stadium and didn't trash it. Quite the opposite, they turned it into somewhat of an event.
My relatives in Iowa lost everything and asked the government for nothing. They have already recovered in large part because they had insurance and support from their families and communities.
In earthquake country, we are constantly reminded to have three days supplies for each member of the family because we know help will not be available for those critical hours.
I can't help but contrast this to the "What are you going to do for me" attitude expressed by the Katrina survivors.
BS. Katrina was just the media’s first successful attempt at damaging the President. He showed fine leadership ahead of the event, and it is not the Presidents job to run around in the middle of a catastrophic event pulling resources away from the needs of the citizens. That’s what would have to happen to support the security of the President on the ground. Anyone who’s ever been around a Presidential event knows the level of demand placed on the local law enforcement.
FEMA has performed well multiple times during the Bush Presidency in FL and elsewhere. This event was simply many degrees more catastrophic than normal. It is not the first time in history that humans have suffered from a natural disaster, and it won’t be the last. Is there anything FEMA could have done better, sure. But that is the case of every government organization on any given day. Brown didn’t seem up to the task, but he did perform fine in other situations.
The media saw blood in the water and the media sharks attacked the administration, just like they did at every other news event during the administration. There was second guessing of every decision leading into Afghanistan and Iraq, and most of the time the media’s second guessing was proven wrong and they dropped the issue. In this case, they got Bush to admit ‘mistakes’ and seized the opportunity.
About the mayor of the chocolate city and the governor of the most corrupt state in the nation?
The emergency planning was way above their pay grade.
Bubba was advising the gov. to just say no to the President’s wish to take control of the LA guard.
The msm had a vested interest in ignoring the truth.
It began with enron, yellowcake, plamegate, and assorted other lies fomented by the msm.
For now they have gotten away with their lies.
History is not written by the press. That is a conceit of the MSM.
Historians use orginal documents. Newspapers and broadcsts are not original documents.
W did fine during Katrina. He did exactly what was planned. Blanco and the Mayor of NO did not. And that is what will be examined by historians, the failure of the local government.
Do you boys really believe that?
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