Disaster, Take Two

[julialnyc]

Disaster, Take Two
Will the White House do better with Rita than Katrina? And why George Bush doesn't worry about the deficit.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9429978/site/newsweek/
snipped........
In the days before Katrina, President Bush told reporters at his ranch in Crawford that he’d already signed disaster declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi to “allow federal agencies to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with state and local officials.” That is remarkably close to the message ahead of Rita. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan spoke on Wednesday of yet more emergency declarations, of prepositioning food and water and of the “close contact” between federal officials and their state and local counterparts.

The White House would like to think it’s ready for Rita. But the president’s aides also thought they were ready for Katrina, even after it passed through New Orleans. Knowing when you’re overwhelmed is a far harder call, especially when there’s been little time to study the lessons of the last disaster. When asked if the response to Rita would be better than Katrina, McClellan sidestepped reporters. “In terms of Katrina, we’re still focused on the immediate needs of the people in the region and working to make sure that they are getting back up on their feet,” he said. “We are determined to learn the lessons of Katrina, and that's why we have been assessing what's been working and what hasn't been working and taking steps to address those issues.” Bureaucracies move more slowly than hurricanes, especially when there’s little to gain politically from an extended investigation into what went wrong.

Whatever happens with Rita, it will test at least two propositions from the Katrina fiasco. The first is the competency of state officials and their relationship with the Bush administration. The White House was quick to point fingers at Louisiana’s governor in the aftermath of Katrina; there is no such room to play the blame game with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who moved into the mansion in Austin when Bush moved into the White House.

The second test is whether the Bush administration can turn on a dime. On one point, they are showing a readiness to respond quickly with one of their biggest assets: the president himself. Bush is prepositioning himself in the Texas area on Saturday, after traveling first to Birmingham, Ala., on Friday. The excuse is a two-day “thank you” tour of states that have taken in large numbers of Katrina evacuees. But it could easily turn into a Rita disaster tour, if the worst projections come true. The critical question remains where he’ll spend Saturday night. Given his druthers, Bush would much prefer to spend the night at his ranch in Crawford. The downside: it reminds the world how he spent so long on vacation before Katrina struck. The upside: he’ll be close to Houston after Rita passes through. One thing seems sure: as Cindy Sheehan and antiwar protestors take to the streets in Washington this weekend, Bush won’t be at the White House.

more........

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. The ** admin turning on a dime? They must be joking

[damntexdem]

2. Rightwingers thought they saw an embryo in Katrina pictures.

In Rita pictures, I think I see a Texas chainsaw.