Newsweek: Hurricane Politics (White House is facing a perfect storm)

[Pirate Smile]

Hurricane Politics

As Katrina forced President Bush to cut short his vacation, the White House is facing a perfect storm of trouble at home and abroad.

WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
Newsweek
Updated: 5:59 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2005
Aug. 31, 2005 - On Tuesday, President Bush called an abrupt end to his five-week “working vacation” at his Texas ranch and announced he would return to the White House two days early to oversee federal response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. “These are trying times for the people of these communities,” Bush said Tuesday during a visit to a naval base in San Diego. “We have a lot of work to do.”

-snip-
Beyond the poll numbers, the Bush administration faces some immediate, urgent challenges—and serious questions about its response to the disaster. For all the president’s statements ahead of the hurricane, the region seemed woefully unprepared for the flooding of New Orleans—a catastrophe that has long been predicted by experts and politicians alike. There seems to have been no contingency planning for a total evacuation of the city, including the final refuges of the city’s Superdome and its hospitals. There were no supplies of food and water ready offshore—on Navy ships for instance—in the event of such flooding, even though government officials knew there were thousands of people stranded inside the sweltering and powerless city.

Then there’s the speed of the Bush administration’s response to such disasters. Just one week ago the White House declared that a major disaster existed in Louisiana, specifically most of the areas (such as Jefferson Parish) that are now under water. Was the White House psychic about the disaster ahead? Not exactly. In fact the major disaster referred to Tropical Storm Cindy, which struck the state a full seven weeks earlier. That announcement triggered federal aid for the stricken areas, where the clean-up had been on hold for almost two months while the White House chewed things over.

Now, faced with a far bigger and deadlier disaster, the Bush administration faces at least two difficult questions: Was it ready to deal with the long-predicted flooding of New Orleans? And is it ready to deal with the long-predicted terrorist attack that might some day strike another of our big cities?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9148526/site/newsweek

[rodeodance]

1. and i hope they have a perfect meltdown. nice and sweet.

[Democrats_win]

2. Disasters expose poor leadership.

Example: 1983's snowstorm that crippled Denver while snowplows did not effectively clear the streets cost long-time Mayor Bill McNichols his job in the next election.

Given that 35-40% of the national guard from LA and MS are 7000 miles away, everyone is seeing that Bush's unwise choices are causing real harm.

[indepat]

3. The long-predicted flooding of New Orleans was dealt with by decreased

funding for hurricane-protection projects: that's how the long-predicted flooding of New Orleans was dealt with.