Do you think that Bush was lax on Hurricane Katrina because...?

Question

hey, if Florida was able to live through and survive four of them in 2004, any state can recover from it?!

Answer 1

There were so many problems and they all worked in concert to make a bad situation worse. For one, you have the decades of corruption that came from the monopolistic rule of the democratic party in New Orleans. As they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that party has had the closest thing to absolute power in New Orleans since the rule of the Bourbon kings of France. That's why, over the course of that time, all the money that was supposed to go to building and improving the levees went instead into politicians' pockets, or the pockets of their paymasters and kingmakers. Untold billions were lost, spent and diverted to various things like building gambling casinos. There is problem number one.

Another is the sheer incompetence that comes from political monopoly. The democratic party, through decades of Cuban-style one-party rule in NO, became sclerotic and incompetent. After all, what value is there in competence when you have a lock on the levers of power?

And of course who could forget the images of the police themselves organizing and directing looting parties raiding electronics stores?

Add to that a population that had been weakened, bowdlerized, and infantilized by the very thing that ensured the absolute power of that party: welfare. Decades of handouts and goodies in exchange for votes turned the population into a bunch of whining, helpless dependents. When an event occurs that requires a government made weak and incompetent by it's own unchallenged power is called upon to help a population made helpless and incompetent by its very policies, you have Katrina. The fact that Nagin was reelected speaks volumes about the dependent relationship of the people with the government.

And of course, there was the state level problem. Kathleen Blanco was indecisive and delayed until the last possible minute anything that might have made things better.

Add to that mix, the federal problem. With the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA was placed under its authority. With that came all sorts of issues of chain of command, jurisdiction, and of course power struggles among competing egos. You can't entirely blame Bush for that problem. He opposed the whole Homeland Security idea until he realized there was nothing he could do to stop it. It was Congress who created that mess.

That said, I think Brown got a bad rap. More of the responsibility should have fallen on the DHS.

Answer 2

All of you people who compare a natural disaster to The morning of September 11th 2001 ARE SICK IGNORANT JACKOFFS!!!!!!!!

The Governor of Louisiana and Mayor Nagin did NOT execute an emergency plan early enough and are truly to blame. Mostly Gov. Blanco.

If I am not mistaken, we've had quite a few Presidents since the levees were constructed, why do we only look at the one who was in office during a disaster. Every President has shortcomings, just like every citizen does, so to Crucify GW Bush for not funding a program that had been underfunded for decades is not entirely fair.

Ultimately it comes down to preparedness. New Orleans is crammed between 3 major bodies of water and with a storm the size of Katrina, it was doomed from the start. Evacuation should have started 72 hours ahead of the storm, you already live 5-6' below Sea level, c'mon that doesn't take a Governor, Mayor or President to figure that out. Poverty contributed to the disaster as many people were too poor to leave on there own, and had no where to go. Look at the wealth in Florida and then try to compare it to the lower 9th..... even poor people in FL are wealthier than the people who fell victim to a system that didn't work and couldn't help themselves. Shooting, raping and fighting inside the Superdome, maybe they didn't deserve help... at least some of them.

Answer 3

Long before the federal government can be called lax handling Hurricane Katrina, you have to look at the local and state. It was the job of Naglin to get the people out. He said nothing would happen....he even turned buses away. Blanco had to ensure Naglin got people out. She also needed to call in the Nat'l Guard. That's her job. After state and local has done their job, federal moves in. FEMA was pretty much a screw up, but everything else the federal did, they could. Other states have always been able to rebuild without their hands out. Just look at Mississippi. It was hit just as hard by Katrina. They're already rebuilding their lives. NO still isn't even cleaned up. They want everyone else to do it for them. By the way....where's the millions and millions of dollars given to them to rebuild??

Answer 4

Bush did what was expected of him. The democratic utopia of Louisiana and the governmental system set up to enable its people to live on handouts did not prepare them for the disaster.Environmentalists blocked efforts to shore up the Levey system .And quite frankly the idiots should have left .They knew they lived in a bowl below sea level. Don't blame the firemen if you refuse to walk out of a burning building.

Answer 5

Nagin ordered an evacuation for an impoverished city where 15% didn't drive 19 hours before the hurricane made land fall. The governor of Mississippi mandated an evacuation 48 hours prior to landfall.

Mississippi activated the National Guard two days prior to the hurricane strike to help safeguard its citizens. Blanco from Lousianna activated the National Guard two days AFTER the hurricane to help fill sandbags and collect bodies.

FEMA was pre-deployed to help issue load and grant applications and flood claim forms. They are in the disaster RECOVERY business.

Had Bush sent in federal trops before being requested he would have been in driect violation of the rights of the citizens of Louisianna. Once requested to assist Bush complied.

The inaction and ineptitude of Blanco and Nagin and the failure of them to execute the responsibilities of their offices resulted in the deaths of over 1500 people. Nagin should have been indicted for murder, not re-elected.

Answer 6

and so able was mississippi..alabama...of course now, by asking this question you have opened up the {flood} gates to all the race pimps that enter this forum..they will give stupid answers like..."bush hates blacks"..and "bush does not care for the poor"..the better question might be..."why did governor blanco refuse help when the president called her??/ or why did feckless nagin let 250 busses sit in water...or why, with all the monies sent since Katrina...has new Orleans not done anything?.....and why before Katrina...the monies sent to fix levees..was spent on additions to the super dome...additions to casinos..additions to the court houses...and Blanca having her offices re-decorated..less than 1 third of monies sent to fix the levees was used to repair the levee system...the base problem...is that new Orleans has been an entitlement city for over 60 years...run by and owned and operated by none other than the democratic party...the party of the "war on poverty"...seems they forgot about new Orleans and Detroit...

Answer 7

Bush lax on Hurricane Katrina because what? There has never been a disaster on the scale of Katrina.

Answer 8

Neither hurricane resulted in massive levee failures like New Orleans

The Feds take the blame for the Levees while Nagin gets the blame for corruption and ineptitude.

Answer 9

Does somebody have to send you a picture of the "gitar strummer"?? "Heckuva Job" screwed up on disasters BEFORE Katrina as documented on PBS... so notice was served... and he is NOW saying that Dumbya TOLD him to lie about the debacle.
Not a word of truth was spoken between Brownie up through all the levels to, and of course INCLUDING Dumbya. Dumbya looks at wars and disasters as an opportunity to steal. Down with Dictator Dumbya!!!

Answer 10

Bush was not only lax, him and all his goverments friends was just plan wrong. They did not care about the people in this county. But a few weeks after Katruna rush to the resue of the people in other county. what that all about.