Katrina Reveals the Surreal World

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• 1 - Silas Kain

  Sep 06, 2005 at 11:36 am

  I watched Olbermann's monologue last night. Other notable quotes:

  Mr. Bush has now twice insisted that, "we are not satisfied," with the response to the manifold tragedies along the Gulf Coast. I wonder which "we" he thinks he's speaking for on this point. Perhaps it's the administration, although we still don't know where some of them are. Anybody seen the Vice President lately? The man whose message this time last year was, 'I'll Protect You, The Other Guy Will Let You Die'?
  
  For many of this country's citizens, the mantra has been â€" as we were taught in Social Studies it should always be â€" whether or not I voted for this President â€" he is still my President. I suspect anybody who had to give him that benefit of the doubt stopped doing so last week. I suspect a lot of his supporters, looking ahead to '08, are wondering how they can distance themselves from the two words which will define his government â€" our government â€" "New Orleans."
  
  For him, it is a shame â€" in all senses of the word. A few changes of pronouns in there, and he might not have looked so much like a 21st Century Marie Antoinette. All that was needed was just a quick "I'm not satisfied with my government's response." Instead of hiding behind phrases like "no one could have foreseen," had he only remembered Winston Churchill's quote from the 1930's. "The responsibility," of government, Churchill told the British Parliament "for the public safety is absolute and requires no mandate. It is in fact, the prime object for which governments come into existence."

  The thing that got to me is how Olbermann has hit the message home that the people of this country renewed their faith in the Administration in the 2004 Election. Most people believed the Bush Administration could be trusted with our national security more so than John Kerry. The Bush Administration can try and shift the entire blame to the Governor and the Mayor. It won't fly. In times of horror, we ultimately look to the Federal Government for guidance. As the months go by and the body count rises to unimaginable numbers the White House spin machine will go to work. How vicious will they get? Will Karl Rove spearhead the effort to paint Louisiana's local officials as murderers? The GOP is running scared as they approach the midterm elections. How many Congressmen will try and distance themselves from the President? Politics makes strange bedfellows. Who'll be left sleeping with the President when it's over?

• 2 - Kathy

  Sep 06, 2005 at 4:03 pm

  I understand that years ago a bunch of money was allocated to New Orleans to beef up the levies -- however, environmental groups got in the way, didn't allow the levies shored up due to fears of affecting local wildlife. Now who's to blame????? Let's forget this blame game and undertand that bad things happen when there is a cat 4 hurricane -- period. And if anyone does want to play the blame game... how about prosecuting every parent who kept their child in New Orleans when they were told to evaculate, for child endangerment!!!

• 3 - blatz

  Sep 06, 2005 at 4:55 pm

  If you read the facts about the "environmental groups that got in the way" you'll see that, in actuality, the Army Corp of Engineers determined that further destroying wetlands would actually have made the city increasingly vulnerable to flooding from more ordinary causes. See Time magazine, 7/10/2000

• 4 - Kathy

  Sep 06, 2005 at 5:32 pm

  So, should I conclude that in order to shore up the levies, the wetlands would be destroyed, creating more flooding problems for New Orleans??? And who is to blame for this????
  
  
  

• 5 - Silas Kain

  Sep 06, 2005 at 7:00 pm

  I'm concluding that Washington, DC should be surrounded by levies and a nice, deep moat filled with Krocodiles from K Street. When our Legislators and the Administration screw up, increase the level of the moat so they can't get out until they do something constructive. Time for Congress to go into a Conclave and get some Divine Inspiration.

• 6 - Eric Berlin

  Sep 06, 2005 at 7:07 pm

  That's a great Churchill quote.
  
  The truth of the situation that no matter what, the buck stops with the President of the United States. The irony of the situation is that President Bush hinged much of his relection campaign on the promise to most effectively protect the security of Americans.
  
  So warranted or not (and I think in many ways it is) this is an enormous failure by this Administration. That said, it remains to be seen what will happen for the President's agenda or future elections. People have frighteningly short attention spans, and who the hell knows what will be grabbing attention come the future.
  
  Rove and company have plenty of time to try and change the subject. That said, so far they've failed in attempting to do just this (and not for lack of trying).

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