Why does Bush get blamed for Katrina?

Question

It was the mayor that didn't order an evacuation and turned away the Red Cross. It was the Governor that didn't ask for federal assistance. Is Bush to blame because he didn't know more than the media that was reporting 'how light storm damage was'? or was Bush supposed to circumvent the Constitution by sending troops into a sovereign state without permission?

Henry VIII you seriously need to learn our system of government. The President can't send troops into a State without a request that state. That's basic civics.

Answer 1

He doesn't. He gets blamed for the complete and utter failure that has happened since the storm and the complete lack of preparations which is what FEMA does. Where did all the billions go that America spent forming the DOHS? Apparently to waste. Who hires a horse trainer to head FEMA anyway? A moron? "Light storm damage?" They were showing people floating dead in the streets and people trapped on bridges. Oh wait, I beat you were watch Fox "News." That's not really a news channel.

Answer 2

The evacuation of New Orleans for Katrina has become a symbol of failure, but it was actually well done by pre-Katrina standards. Katrina was forecast to go elsewhere until about 60 hours before landfall (the storm struck the Gulf coast during the morning of 08/29/05). A comprehensive state of emergency was declared on August 26th and the evacuation order was given on the 27th. More than 95% of the New Orleans metro area's 1,400,000 population was able to leave and the highways were empty by the evening of the 28th. About half of those who could not or would not leave went to the Superdome, which was the designated shelter. Emergency management experts believed it would take 96 hours to evacuate or shelter 97% of a city the size of New Orleans, but NOLA did it in less than 48 hours. The problem was that the 2.5 % to 3% who didn’t leave and didn't go to the Superdome was about 35,000 people. Add the 30,000 at the Superdome who were trapped by the floodwaters and the result was the chaos shown on TV. Please do realize the news media grossly exaggerated the amount of violence during the aftermath. For example, there were many stories reporting murders, rapes of children, and gun battles in the Superdome. In reality, there were NO murders, NO rapes of children, and NO gun battles in the Superdome. There was plenty of bad news - I don't know why the media had to make stuff up. Search "super dome murders katrina" and "shooting at helicopters katrina" for links. However, there WAS chaos, and the bottom-line reason was that almost 70,000 mostly very poor people were trapped by apocalyptic conditions in New Orleans because there was NOWHERE for them to evacuate to. Note that many of the 35,000 people who didn't go to the Dome stayed away deliberately because it had been used as a hurricane shelter in the past. Everyone knew environmental conditions inside would become awful once the power and water failed. The Dome is a building without windows and was never designed to be occupied unless the a/c was working. Ray Nagin (Mayor of New Orleans) is often criticized for failing to utilize school buses to evacuate people to outside the storm-affected zone. I am not a fan of Nagin (to say the least), but he gets a bad rap for that. When government moves people during an evacuation government also becomes responsible for them. Reality: There was NOWHERE to take people to, and NO you can't just dump them on the side of the road. There were NO organized evacuation sites for Katrina outside the city and New Orleans did what it could by using the Dome. The lessons of Katrina were applied for Gustav in 2008 (which actually missed the city). Most of the evacuation (ex. Contraflow) went exactly the same, though with more notice. Gustav made landfall on Monday and people who self-evacuated were told to leave starting Friday. The assisted evacuation started on Saturday morning and- for Gustav - there were organized evacuation sites set up in advance well outside the storm affected area. People without their own transportation were taken to collection points across southern Louisiana & southern Mississippi, then transported north using buses, trains, and aircraft.

Answer 3

Actually all levels of government fell short before, during and after Katrina. George Bush does not bear responsibility for the entire mess, but he was responsible for the federal response. I have no idea what media you found to reporting light storm damage.

Answer 4

Who is blaming Bush for the hurricane? He is justifiably being blamed for the slow and sloppy reaction of his Administration to the results of the storm but not the storm itself. It is his responsibility to find out facts from other than the media and so using the excuse that it didn't look so bad on the media is a cop out. Troops sent to a disaster in ones own country is hardly the same as invading another country with guns blazing. It is right to send military corps of engineers to help in cleanup efforts. It is also correct to send military to help police quell looting and to help in rescue efforts. This is all more relevant when one considers that the national guard who would normally be doing much of that was occupied fighting Bush's little war thousands of miles away and thus were not available to do what the National Guard usually does.

Answer 5

Because he caused a SECOND man-made disaster by a criminal neglect. Katrina was exploited as an opportunity for profiteering. Just look at how a recent near miss hurricane was recently treated differently in Texas. Down with Dictator Dumbya!!!

Answer 6

Because they all think that Bush alone makes the decisions, they don't realize that the gov. is full of incompetent Representatives & backstabers that will take advantage of any situation to belittle anyone so they can advances. Polotics is no longer about your own merits but about the other persons lack of.

Answer 7

The mark of a great leader is to accept blame for Murphy's law. If anything can go wrong it will. The other side won't take any blame even if it is right. That shows how great they are.

Answer 8

That is so stupid, Jesse Bush did a lot to help out the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Answer 9

To be a President is a difficult job. When Calamity falls on the population and they cannot understand the problem ,they always have to find a scape goat to blame it on.

Answer 10

This was a failure at ALL levels of government. With cronies like " Heckuva Job Brownie" placed in positions of responsibility
Bush's eneptitude is greatly magnified.
How many days was it until help came to the people at the arena in N.O. ?
This happened on his watch and he bears responsibility.