Paul Krugman of The New York Times writes what I have been wondering, but much more eloquently, in A Can’t-Do Government
Here is a little sample:
Yesterday [Thursday, September 1] Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.
So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can’t-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.
Why do I fully agree with the “utterly fantastic” label on Bush’s statement? Because FEMA has been warning about this for years. Here is a snippet from Gone with the Water, a what-if disaster scenario published by National Geographic in October 2004.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.
There is more to being president of the United States of America than moral conviction. We need a leader who leads well in all aspects of running our country, not just in ridding the world of the axis of evil. We need a president with a more balanced set of priorities.
Great comment from Paul Krugman. I have been arguing with neocon friends for three years that we are spending too many of our resources (troops, money, political focus) in Iraq and leaving ourselves ill-prepared for disaster at home. I’m sorry to have been proven correct.
Paul Kraugman, as he usually is , has it right…With the exception of Iraq,where Bush looked for every possible excuse, no matter how thin or bogus, to lead us into an ill-advised war, this administration has been totlly reactive and not proactive on almost any major issue. (OK, there is the nonsense about the “death tax”) The hallmarks are passivity and smugness.
NOW he tells us to conserve fuel??? Why was’t this part of the energy bill ??The idea that feeding our oil addiction with more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico constitutes a valid energy policy is absurd and dangerous.The idea that wetlands might be better preserved to mitigate the caprices of nature, rather than be wiped out for yet one more unnecessary development is anathema to this administration. This horrible tragedy has highlighted the Bush modus operandi of incompetence, lame excuses and self-righteousness. Like New Orleans, this country
needs HELP !