Why is Bush held responsible for New Orleans? Was he supposed to predict the impact of a Hurricane?

Question

Not only that but why isnt the STATE government held responsible? This really ticks me off that liberals use this as a constant talking point in how Bush has failed America on the home land...

ok you all say people under him failed thats still no BUSH himself... they failed Bush is NOT FEMA Bush is NOT the US corps of Engineers Bush can only the hire the people its like if you hired someone and they didn't do there job you can only do whats in your control?!?!?!?

Answer 1

It couldn't possibly be the fault of the emergency planning of the most corrupt state in the union.

Everything is Bush's fault. Don't you know that yet? He does everything all by himself. He flies around the globe like Superman messing everything up. Every government agency or department should start with the word Bush in it.

Just substitute the word "Bush" for every agency that has "National", "Department" ,"Bureau" or "Service" in it, then you get the idea. That's how stupid people are.

Answer 2

When an emergency alert is filed by any state, it is the government's responsibility to respond. FEMA is a federal department and Bush is responsible for their actions. The big problem turned out to be money allotted, money misspent and money disappearing. Again, Halliburton got the contract to make repairs. As you probably know, that was Cheney's previous employer. The good things that were done were by the National Guard, half the police force (the other half fled) and volunteers. So, the hundreds of trailers FEMA bought have been sitting unused and the basic clean up and repairs are still unfinished. We know Brownie did not "do a heck of a job", as Bush said. I say, Bush has done a worse job!

Answer 3

Bush is not responsible for a hurricane hitting New Orleans. It's definitely arguable how responsible he was for decreasing funding that might have helped reinforce the levees, as the Army Corps of Engineers is a NATIONAL, not state, agency.

But he *is* responsible for hiring as the head of FEMA a man who has never worked with emergency management in his life (but who *was* a buddy of his). He is responsible for not responding faster, when people were dying of dehydration, stranded on bridges and rooftops. The press got into New Orleans well before any government relief did, and that's criminal.

Yes, it's true that the state government could also have done a great deal more. But this isn't a case of either/or. In a disaster of this magnitude, our government--state AND federal--should have done more. FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Association.

Bush showed up in Florida, a year or so earlier, almost immediately after their hurricane. He took days to visit New Orleans.

And then there's the issue that, generally, the National Guard responds to crises of this magnitude. But Bush has the majority of them fighting in Iraq, despite that they are the NATIONAL guard, normally kept around for possible emergencies within, and not outside of, our nation.

These are some of the reasons.

Answer 4

He's not responsible for Katrina, he is responsible for the slow reaction after Katrina, his man "Good Job,Brownie" was more concerned about what he was having for dinner than he was getting people out of the city or at least getting food and drinking water to them.He personally visited the city and said the federal government would not abandon New Orleans or the Gulf Coast, 2 years later people from New Orleans and the coast region are still living in small travel trailers fighting red tape to get their insurance and FEMA aid. Meanwhile were spending 360 million dollars a day in Iraq with no end in sight.

Answer 5

No he couldn't predict it, but he could have made sure that things were taking care of in a timely matter and properly.

The state government should be held responsible as well.

As an Independent, In my opinion, bush is doing a horrible job all the way around.

bigDcowgirl - He "got the blame" because he put another one of his buddies in charge, rather than put someone in that position that should have been qualified.

HKing - I can't support anyone that I don't respect. If you are doing wrong, you are doing wrong .

Answer 6

The people responsible for maintaining the flood control system of New Orleans are federal employees, the US Corps of Engineers. Numerous reports had been presented for years predicting exactly what happened during Katrina, and the Corps did nothing. The organization charged with responding to disasters is FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration. As the president had replaced everyone there who had any expertise with incompetent political cronies, their response was dismal. These people all work for the president, not the state. Whatever happened to "The buck stops here?"

Answer 7

Oh because some people want to ignore reality... you had people like that fool Kanye West basically saying Bush somehow sent the hurricane there or blew up the levee because he hates black people.
( which is of course why he put people like Colin Powell and Condi Rice in his cabinet ) sigh... some people.

As I have said before the Army Corp of Engineers had been telling the state and local government for fifty years that there was a potential for disaster if they didnt take steps to prevent exactly what happened.. but it went on deaf ears for 5 decades.

Answer 8

FEMA screwed up big time. They gave funds to morons. They gave funds to the wrong people. They did most everything wrong in helping the situation that they could. The reason this comes back on Bush is because instead of hiring someone with experience he hired a buddy who had no clue what he was doing. Nah... Bush wouldn't do something like that would he?

Answer 9

He actually did contact the state and local governments but nobody wants to give him any positive credit for that. The local governments are more to blame than anybody for not getting people out of there. The state of La. and the city of NO have been warned for years about the poor conditions of the levees but did nothing to fix them. FEMA dropped the ball and Bush got the blame. How the mayor of NO could get re=elected after his gross failure is beyond me.

Answer 10

Because the people of New Orleans, and some people in general have become so reliant on the government that they cannot help themselves.

Because they are not in charge of their own lives they have to blame someone else; in this case the President.

The Katrina incident is billed as a failure of Bush; I think it is a failure of socialism.