Criticize Bush for canceling PROACTIVE measures, NOT for SLOW Response

[NAO]

I think the news media is deliberately MISDIRECTING attention (possibly orchestrated by the Traitor Karl "Benedict Arnold" Rove) by focusing the criticism of President Bush and FEMA on slow reaction time and slow response in providing aid and emergency services to the victims.

The more important, and more devastating criticism is that Bush is DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for GUTTING programs that would have mitigated the disaster BEFORE it even happened.

Here are A FEW of the things that should be put into a broadsheet and attached to every bottle of water and every tube of toothpaste that is sent to survivor/victims/refugees:

- Bush canceled the funding for a plan to "Prepare New Orleans for a Category 5 Hurricane"

- Bush has de-funded FEMA in general, diverting funds to tax breaks for his wealthy supporters and corporate clients.

- Bush canceled plans to reinforce the levies that protect New Orleans because he wanted the funds to go to tax breaks for his wealthy supporters and corporate clients.

- Bush's war of choice, Iraq, has depleted our National Guard of men and resources that could have been used to respond to the disaster.

These are all things that Bush did BEFORE the hurricane hit that made it MUCH WORSE. They were POLICY DECISIONS, not logistics or response time considerations, that made the bad situation MUCH WORSE.

People should be aware of THESE POLICY FACTORS rather than merely focusing on the poor/inadequate response of FEMA and other government agencies.

**********

Molly Ivens id an EXCELLENT column at Common Dreams:

Why New Orleans is in Deep Water
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0901-26.htm

To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame game before the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to make a point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is that government policies have real consequences in people's lives.

This is not "just politics" or blaming for political advantage. This is about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for those policies.

This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever said, "I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics," or, "There's nothing I can do about it," or, "Eh, they're all crooks anyway."

Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my life, nothing I can do about any of it. Look around you this morning. I suppose the National Rifle Association would argue, "Government policies don't kill people, hurricanes kill people." Actually, hurricanes plus government policies kill people.

One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable to hurricanes is the gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf Coast that once stood as a natural buffer between the city and storms coming in from the water. The disappearance of those wetlands does not have the name of a political party or a particular administration attached to it. No one wants to play, "The Democrats did it," or, "It's all Reagan's fault." Many environmentalists will tell you more than a century's interference with the natural flow of the Mississippi is the root cause of the problem, cutting off the movement of alluvial soil to the river's delta.

But in addition to long-range consequences of long-term policies like letting the Corps of Engineers try to build a better river than God, there are real short-term consequences, as well. It is a fact that the Clinton administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is a fact that the Bush administration repealed those policies--ordering federal agencies to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands.

Last year, four environmental groups cooperated on a joint report showing the Bush administration's policies had allowed developers to drain thousands of acres of wetlands.

Does this mean we should blame President Bush for the fact that New Orleans is underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a Category 3 or Category 2 hurricane puts New Orleans under. At this point, it is a matter of making a bad situation worse, of failing to observe the First Rule of Holes (when you're in one, stop digging).

Had a storm the size of Katrina just had the grace to hold off for a while, it's quite likely no one would even remember what the Bush administration did two months ago. The national press corps has the attention span of a gnat, and trying to get anyone in Washington to remember longer than a year ago is like asking them what happened in Iznik, Turkey, in A.D. 325.

Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax and chopped $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans CityBusiness at the time, that meant "major hurricane and flood projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now."

The commander of the corps' New Orleans district also immediately instituted a hiring freeze and canceled the annual corps picnic.

Our friends at the Center for American Progress note the Office of Technology Assessment used to produce forward-thinking plans such as "Floods: A National Policy Concern" and "A Framework for Flood Hazards Management." Unfortunately, the office was targeted by Newt Gingrich and the Republican right, and gutted years ago.

In fact, there is now a governmentwide movement away from basing policy on science, expertise and professionalism, and in favor of choices based on ideology. If you're wondering what the ideological position on flood management might be, look at the pictures of New Orleans--it seems to consist of gutting the programs that do anything.

Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen. Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because people are afraid of being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the Guard even more short-handed.

The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of its high-water vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators have also been sent abroad. (I hate to be picky, but why do they need high-water vehicles in Iraq?)

This, in turn, goes back to the original policy decision to go into Iraq without enough soldiers and the subsequent failure to admit that mistake and to rectify it by instituting a draft.

The levees of New Orleans, two of which are now broken and flooding the city, were also victims of Iraq war spending. Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, said on June 8, 2004, "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq."

This, friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies, not political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about our lives.

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS AT COMMONDREAMS.ORG

[still_one]

1. it is all important, before and after

[Mass]

4. After is the result of what they did before.

Read Krugman's column in the NYTimes. They dont believe that govt can be used for commun goods, so they depleted FEMA.

This is an ideological issue of what the govt should be for.

[still_one]

6. I agree

[no_hypocrisy]

2. No, both are necessary.

[Lindacooks]

9. Yep, you're right, we can smash him right in his ugly mug with both.

He slashed proactive measures AND he was slow providing relief. Two way loser.

[niceypoo]

3. A combination of reactionary policy and third world level incompetence

You just cannot discount the fact that he doesn't care. Thats why he reacted so slowly. He saw no political gain til it was too late. Great post by the way!

[bigbrother05]

5. Greta tried to poke Clinton

The first part of the Q&A after the Bush/Clinton fund raising kickoff had Greta VS asking about the criticism. Poppy said the Prez could take it. Then Clinton spoke and remarked that there was flooding in NO during his 1st term and they put together a program to improve the protections, but he "wasn't sure" what had been done after he left office. He knows how to deflect their transparent attempts to blame him and turn the spotlight where it belongs. Then he sat down with the reporters after the press conference was over. Bill might have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.

[NAO]

7. Poor Response attributed to "Bureaucratic Ineptitude", which is accepted

as the norm. People on both sides of the political divide frequently complain of "bureaucratic ineptitude" and it is something that most people lump with "death and taxes" as being inevitable.

As long as the news media and the public is focused on the RESPONSE, and they are unconsciously attributing it to "bureaucratic ineptitude", they are focusing on Bush and his DIRECT role; they are not focused on POLICY and DECISIONS that led to the crisis.

That is why I think the focus should be on the pre-disaster policy decisions, rather than the post-disaster response.

BTW, the fact that the (White House - Lap Dog - Karl Rove directed) news media is so focused on the post-disaster poor response and has VIRTUALLY IGNORED the pre-disaster policy decisions is a BIG HINT that this is the more damaging factor to Bush.

[Prairiefire]

8. Do not blame George Bush for Katrina tragedy

Here's an email that should be forwarded to every patriotic American voter: Do not blame George W. Bush for the man-made aspects of the Katrina disaster.

The blame needs to be laid where it rightfully belongs--at the feet of long-standing Republican policies that were in place before this president and will be in place after him, unless we, the American voters, put an end to them.

From now on when we hear a call for Republican-style `small government,' we need to think of innocent Katrina victims drowning in their homes five days after the levees broke.

When we hear a call for Republican-style 'homeland security,' we need to think of long-delayed evacuations of newborns and frail elders from hospitals and American children trapped in the Superdome and the Convention Center and calling desparately for help.

When we hear a call for Republican-style 'personal responsibility,' we need to think of evacuation plans that did not consider thousands of people who do not own automobiles.

When we hear a Republican call to `fight them over there instead of over here,' we need to think of looting, shooting, and raping in the streets of New Orleans with no effective opposition beyond a few exhausted and outgunned local police officers.

When we hear a call for Republican-style 'privatization,' we need to think of a hapless, helpless FEMA swamped in incompetence, ineptitude, and un-preparedness while Americans die needlessly day after day within sight of television cameras and within a few miles of military bases.

When we hear a call for Republican-style `ownership society,' we need to think of the private property, once valued in the billions, that is now destroyed because Republicans refused to budget $250 million in public funds (roughly the cost of one day in Iraq) that was needed to shore up Louisiana levees and build pumping stations.

When we hear a call for Republican-style 'tax cuts,' we need to think of the cuts that have, since 2003, cause the Army Corps of Engineers' office charged with Louisiana flood control to impose a hiring freeze, withhold contracts for flood-control work, and even, on White House direction, cancel the $300,000 federal share of a study of what New Orleans must do to protect itself from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.

When we hear a Republican call to `wait for conclusive evidence of global warming,' we need to think of the bathtub-temperature water in the Gulf of Mexico and wonder how much more evidence America will suffer before they decide it is enough for them.

When we hear a call for Republican-style 'compassionate conservatism,' we need to think of a Republican official denying knowledge of any people in trouble at the Convention Center although he and we can watch the news footage, and another Republican official suggesting, in the midst of heartbreak, that we should not rebuild New Orleans.

When we hear a call for Republican-style 'bold and visionary leadership,' we need to think of a Republican president whining that no one predicted the levees would fail, and other Republican officials whining that they didn't receive the proper request from the Democratic Governor of Louisiana.

Blaming one small weak man for this preventable disaster deflects blame from the dangerous ideas and misplaced values that have degraded our great nation for years. These ideas will continue to undermine our American values until we-—the entire body of civic-minded voters—-reject Republican politicians in 2005, 2006, and for as long as they fail to understand the need to rebuild the strong, compassionate, can-do America that we used to know.

[NAO]

10. EXACTLY. Do not let GWB be a scapegoat for greedy republican policy

Bush is just the front man, the stooge (quite literally in his case) that is implementing a SYSTEMATIC PROGRAM of shifting the focus of government away from protecting people and toward facilitating the super-rich in becoming super-duper-rich.

Don't let him be a lightning rod for the wrath of the American People about the criminal policy negligence committed by the Republicans in power.

They are the ones that failed to take reasonable precautions that an ordinary sane government would take to prevent harm to it's citizens. Bush needs to go, but he should not draw fire away from the Republican Party.