It is important that the Bush administration not get away with shifting their responsibility to local officials. Here is what actually happened.
Timeline
Friday, Aug. 26: Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency in Louisiana and requests troop assistance.
Saturday, Aug. 27: Gov. Blanco asks for federal state of emergency. A federal emergency is declared giving federal officials the authority to get involved.
Sunday, Aug. 28: Mayor Ray Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. President Bush warned of Levee failure by National Hurricane Center. National Weather Service predicts area will be "uninhabitable" after Hurricane arrives. First reports of water toppling over the levee appear in local paper.
Monday, Aug. 29: Levee breaches and New Orleans begins to fill with water, Bush travels to Arizona and California to discuss Medicare. FEMA chief finally responds to federal emergency, dispatching employees but giving them two days to arrive on site.
Tuesday, Aug. 30: Mass looting reported, security shortage cited in New Orleans. Pentagon says that local authorities have adequate National Guard units to handle hurricane needs despite governor's earlier request. Bush returns to Crawford for final day of vacation. TV coverage is around-the-clock Hurricane news.
Wednesday, Aug. 31: Tens of thousands trapped in New Orleans including at Convention Center and Superdome in "medieval" conditions. President Bush finally returns to Washington to establish a task force to coordinate federal response. Local authorities run out of food and water supplies.
Thursday, Sept. 1: New Orleans descends into anarchy. New Orleans Mayor issues a "Desperate SOS" to federal government. Bush claims nobody predicted the breach of the levees despite multiple warnings and his earlier briefing.
Friday, Sept. 2: Karl Rove begins Bush administration campaign to blame state and local officials—despite their repeated requests for help. Bush stages a photo-op—diverting Coast Guard helicopters and crew to act as backdrop for cameras. Levee repair work orchestrated for president's visit and White House press corps.
Saturday, Sept. 3: Bush blames state and local officials. Senior administration official (possibly Rove) caught in a lie claiming Gov. Blanco had not declared a state of emergency or asked for help.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Margaret Romao Toigo
There's plenty of blame to go 'round here, Mr. Bambenek -- and everybody's going to get some of it.
When the partisan silliness is cast aside, it is quite obvious that there were numerous failures at the local, state and federal levels and that they occurred both before and after Katrina.
2 - alethinos59
Bombastic there is simply no hope for you...
In your little world ALL harm is done by THOSE people over there while EVERYONE on your side of the fence is ALWAYS sinless, guiltless and without imperfection. GOSH it must be wonderful there... How often do you do lunch with God?
There is a LOT of blame to go around, for Dem and Rep alike...
But admitting that would shatter your fragile psyche...
3 - Silas Kain
MoveOn should move on. America loves an underdog and MoveOn's consistent Bush bashing only delegates the Shrub to underdawg status. Hmmm. Could MoveOn be guided by none other than Karl Rove?
4 - Shark
And then in 1776 the Bavarian Illuminati began to breed a line that would eventually culminate in the birth of Lee Harvey Osw...
Oh, wait... ~ wrong meeting!
I'm sorry, Bambineck, I heard your voice and...
5 - Silas Kain
Come on, Shark. Isn't it fun to feed the animals?
6 - Psychedelic Pariah
I won't call you names, as some of a certain persuasion are prone do to. This was an excellent points and serves to underpin the old adage, "the truth hurts."
The picture of the buses under water, still parked in the lot, speaks volumes as to who screwed up in this debacle. Indeed.
7 - Druxxx
Stop it with the buses.
To completely evacuate a city with over a million people would take over a week. Now try to do it with a Hurricane on top of you.
Those buses would have been lucky to evacuate 10,000 people.
The problem was not the evacuation. The problem was the levees breaking.
The biggest problem was not having national gaurd troops one the ground in New Orleans before the levees broke. The declared a state of emergency for god's sake. Send in the troops.
Whoever had control of those two things is to blame here. I am not trying to say that was all Mr. Bush's fault, but he has to carry a good chunk of the blame.
8 - Brian
Yes, can't we all just accept that this is TOTALLY Bush's fault. The Bush administration has screwed up the country again! Man, this guy even has the ability to control weather, and has the mind control over state government officials so that they will not act for themselves and their state. Man, Bush really did it this time huh? He actually created a hurricane and forced state officials to sit idle and do nothing! Come on people, moveon should moven.
***** JEB '08 ********
9 - RED STATE
sILLY REPUBLICAN IDIOT YOU ARE BRIAN.
DONT YOU KNOW THAT BUSH'S FATHER HAD JFK KILLED AND THAT BUSH GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GANDFATHER HAD CHRIST KILLED?
THE BUSHES ARE BEHIND EVERY EVIL THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME BRIAN FROM THE ICE AGE TO THE TIANIC SINKING TO HURRICANE KATRINA
iF YOU WERE AN INFORMED, ENLIGHTENED, NUANCED, LIBERAL WHO LISTENED TO AIR AMERICA,CARED ABOUT EVERYONE, READ MOVEON.ORG
S WEBSITE EVERY DAY, DONATED TO NARAL, PLANNED PARENTHOOD, THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF AMERICA, VOTED FOR JOHN KERRY BECAUSE HE'S A BONA FIDE WAR HERO AND MAN OF DIGNITY, AND LONG FOR NILL CLINTON AGAIN, YOU'D KNOW THAT
HAHA... SERIOUSLY I AHVE TO GO WASH THE VOMIT OUT OF THE BACK OF MY THROAT AFTER HAVING TYPED ALL THAT
10 - John Bambenek
Stop it with the buses? Yeah, we wouldn't want to point out that the local government could have kept the crisis from happening in the first place... that's not the point... the point is to make sure Bush doesn't win in 08.
11 - Dave Nalle
Um, JB...Bush can't even run in 08.
Dave
12 - John Bambenek
Your sarcasm detector is broken.
13 - Dave Nalle
Sorry, it got shut down by allergies.
Dave
14 - Margaret Romao Toigo
Mr. Bambenek, you do have a small point here. Using those buses to evacuate people may very well have saved some lives.
But please, let's not kid ourselves here. This was a major crisis that was not going to be prevented by the implementation of a single disaster management task, especially when the local, state and federal disaster management plans were so obviously inadequate.
Shifting blame that should be shared is imprudent.
If we are ever going to have any hope of being better prepared for the next major disaster, the local, state and federal authorities must all own up to their mistakes and take responsibility for them so they will not be repeated.
Unfortunately, this is the method by which numerous disaster management plans have been redesigned and improved.
Partisanship of any sort is nothing but a distraction from these most essential life-saving endeavors. So, swallow that pride, take an honest assessment, admit the mistakes, learn from them and try to come up with some better ideas for the future.
15 - red state
margaret i dont think any sensible person would say that the fed govt doesnt deserve some blame but any sensible person can also see that there are those on the left who are trying to make this a race issue and place ALL of the blame not just at the foot of the fed govt but at bush himself and this is patently ludicrous
16 - John
It's been four years since 911. W was supposed to have us in his good hands and "do whatever it takes to keep americans safe." Is having FEMA under homeland security a good idea - as the bush administration has rearranged it? Do you have confidence in our country's ability to handle another catastrophic event, based on what happened, is happening in NO? Are we ready for the bomb? Just wondering what ya'll think. Let's see if you jive with today's Zogby. Oh that's right, polls don't matter.
17 - patently ludicrous
I don't know if you noticed, but “certain assets” of the Gulf Coast were IMMEDIATELY swept down upon and rescued and secured by Homeland Security and the FBI. The feds excel at acting quickly and decisively when it concerns things of importance to the administration. Also, I do hope you noticed that the day after the hurricane, shares in Halliburton reached eight-year record highs. The stock market is on the upswing. The oil companies are doing very well.
According to Gen. Russell Honore and several former FEMA officials including former FEMA Director Witt, Louisiana and Mississippi state and local authorities have been exonerated; they behaved properly before the hurricane hit and as expeditiously and effectively as possible after it hit. Of course, their resources are extremely limited, and they were further hampered by the lack of working communications equipment, no electrical power, and so on. In fact, they made some tactical errors, and they, unlike our federal officials, have been willing to accept responsibility for those lapses.
But the sheer magnitude of this disaster required a swift and effective response from federal resources. The state and local authorities called upon the feds for help. We know that it is the responsibility of FEMA to respond rapidly to national disasters. It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to provide leadership and direct active duty troops to areas requiring the kind of support this area needed. The first 72 hours of a natural disaster like this are crucial for saving lives.
18 - me
How can people pick on George Bush so much? Simply because God caused the hurricane, and W is much closer to God than anyone else? God is testing our president: How to appear to be helping, without getting your feet wet?
The undeniable truth is that George Bush has handled the disaster in New Orleans with the same wisdom and competence as he has handled every other issue since he became president.
Tax cuts for the rich, catching Osama, rebuilding Afghanistan, an astounding Medicare bill, searching for WMD's in Iraq, raising the international esteem of the United States, improving our trade balance, prosecuting the war in Iraq, balancing the budget, rebuilding Iraq, raising confidence in the US dollar, building the economy, getting our soldiers in and out of Iraq in the minimum amount of time with negligible casualties, appointing fine people to positions of importance in the government, dis-incentivising terrorism, ... In all these things, Bush has shown his true mettle.
Look the way Bush handled two significant warnings he got, months or even years before they occurred: the 9/11 attacks, and the failure of the New Orleans levees. He responded to BOTH with equal preparation and resolve!
The results of Bush's faith-based leadership are abundantly clear to any unbiased observer. I wish people would quit bickering over it and get back to the business of taking care of the country.
19 - Silas Kain
Katrina is the President's best friend. It's another WMD. This time the Weather of Mass Distraction is taking our minds off Iraq. America, we need to multitask. As tragic as Katrina continues to be, we have a few other problems that need our attention. Worry not, there will be other WMDs.
20 - Dave Nalle
You've got a point, Silas. The left is trying so hard to spin it negative for Bush, but they're not making any progress - their efforts may even backfire on them - despite all the negativity we see here in the blogosphere. The public perception and the media take is very positive for Bush. It sure doesn't help that so many of the claims from prominent administration critics have turned out to be lies. Krugman basically totally discredited himself with the Bataan article where he had one factual point in the whole rant and it turned out to be a lie any teenager with a web browser could disprove - plus it put him in the position of lying to discredit the Navy, which Joe McCarthy would have told you is a major career destroyer.
dave
21 - Bob A. Booey
I'm outraged at you, Krugman!!!!
Attack the Navy will you with your LIES?!!!! HOW DARE YOU?!@!!!!!!
YOU EAT BABIES AND DRINK THEIR BLOOOD!!!
I don't think the media take is positive at all, but the public doesn't seem to give Bush any blame for the delay in response right now in the wake of tragedy. We'll see what those poll numbers are in a few weeks and what the political fall-out is in a state like Louisiana. Most of the talking-head pundits (including conservatives like Andrew Sullivan) on the Sunday shows seemed to think it would be a political loss for Bush down the road that could have a lasting effect up until midterms in 2006.
That is all.
22 - Dave Nalle
Babs, people really, really don't like it when a weasely little professor with a beard tries to smear the military with lies. Krugman's stock is lower than Global Crossing right now.
dave
23 - RogerMDillion
Your sarcasm delivery system is broken.
24 - Bob A. Booey
I nominate Roger M. Dillion for dryest, most droll, matter-of-fact commenter. He's even more dismissive and arrogant than me and Dave combined, which is saying something.
Dave: who do you like better? Me or Krugman?
That is all.
25 - Dave Nalle
I love everyone, Babs.
Dave