“The Feelings of Conscience Settled In”
Hurricane Katrina showed us that the emperor had no clothes. Whether said emperor was President Bush, Michael Brown, Gov. Kathleen Blanco or Mayor Ray Nagin, we were exposed. As a nation, it was mercilessly shown that we were not prepared. New Orleans relied on a “good Samaritan” evacuation plan; one that required citizens visiting their elderly and infirm neighbors and, if need be, driving them out of the city. Never mind the fact that more than 50,000 of New Orleans’ residents who lived below the poverty line did not own a car. Never mind that they were never informed of the evacuation plan, even after New Orleans’ newspaper, The Times-Picayune, documented a Hurricane Katrina-like scenario in wrenching detail two years ago.
Let’s play hot-potato, shall we? Once we pass the blame from Nagin, who’s next? It seems as if we should move on to Michael D. Brown now, former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The man ran FEMA for two years before resigning on September 12, 2005, and what a tenure it was. During the relief efforts for 2004’s Hurricane Frances, Brown “accidentally” gave over $30 million to Miami, a city completely unaffected by the hurricane, but it was “a computer glitch.” During the aftermath of Katrina, he admitted in a televised interview that he only knew evacuees were being housed at the Convention Center after seeing it on CNN. Ok, so the man has made a few mistakes. Surely, he’s outdone himself in emergency management before, right? Actually, Brown’s resume lists two notable chairmanships prior to that of FEMA: that of the Theodore Roosevelt Association and the International Arabian Horse Association. Hmm… but we can’t fault an under-qualified appointee, can we? It’s someone else’s fault.
It seems as if we should examine Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a likely target. Constitutionally, only she could have called in the National Guard, and their presence certainly did ease tension and generate hope on Friday of the first, seemingly interminable week. I don’t buy it, though. Gov. Blanco has said on national television that she tried to get in touch with President Bush both Monday and Tuesday nights. Only after making her televised plea did she hear from the President, rather than from a low-level advisor. But let’s say she lied; after all, President Bush has mentioned similar inaction on Blanco’s end. Still, it’s an understood fact that no state should be ready to handle a widespread natural disaster. That’s why they call them disasters, catastrophes, chaos. Kathleen Blanco did wait 24 hours to make decisions crucial to the relief efforts. She also turned away the Red Cross and other relief agencies, saying she didn’t want the Superdome or the Convention Center to become a “relief magnet.” It’s the kind of ‘let-them-eat-cake’ remark that makes people lose faith in their government, and I feel it’s time to toss the potato once again.
And so we move on. Who’s next? Is it Condoleezza Rice, who went shoe shopping on Fifth Ave. that first Wednesday and then saw Spamalot? While finding your meal is a tad more important than finding your grail, it’s actually Rice’s boss, President Bush. Who could have called in the National Guard under the Insurrection Act? The act states, “The President shall take such measures as he sees necessary to suppress violence.” Even if the Guard were only called in because of the snipers and looting, President Bush would still be justified in calling them in to relieve the NOPD, which has suffered from suicides and resignations within its ranks. Even those constitutional scholars who dwell in the gray areas of the law would not protest if it was for as recognizably a good outcome as it would have been in this situation. Who relied on patronage, the political theory of rewarding those who supported your campaign with high-profile appointments, to elevate Michael Brown? The same President Bush who merged FEMA with the Department of Homeland Security in bureaucracy masquerading as strength.
Is there a moral to our story, besides that the hot-potato of blame tends to scorch the reputation of whomever’s hands it is in? I don’t know, but I do know that we waited. Two weeks later, apologies were given, but they don’t expunge the rising death toll, which has passed 700 as it continues to climb. Hurricane Katrina was devastating not because of the initial damage quite so much as the response. If it weren’t for the courage of first responders like nurses and firemen, we would have waited too long. We waited three days longer to distribute food than it took to distribute food in Indonesia after the tsunami. We let thousands upon thousands of refugees sit in a sports stadium for days on end. I don’t completely buy into the inaction-as-sport theory, but I do know that if it was a sea of white people on television, we wouldn’t have waited quite so long. We as a nation have, in Rev. Jesse Jackson’s words, “a high tolerance for black pain”, and we waited. We waited so long that is was embarrassing. That doesn’t say much for compassionate conservatism. I leave you with a few words about waiting, courtesy of Texas-based folk duo Deadman.
“We must give; we must give to all the others
Those in need, who we fear to call our brothers
If we stand on a hill and do not touch,
How can we do good?
If we wash our hands of all our friends
What change can really come?
If we hide our fear and don’t draw near
Have we really lived?
Or are we all just standing here,
Hoping there is grace?”
- “When the Music’s Not Forgotten”
Let’s play hot-potato, shall we? Once we pass the blame from Nagin, who’s next? It seems as if we should move on to Michael D. Brown now, former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The man ran FEMA for two years before resigning on September 12, 2005, and what a tenure it was. During the relief efforts for 2004’s Hurricane Frances, Brown “accidentally” gave over $30 million to Miami, a city completely unaffected by the hurricane, but it was “a computer glitch.” During the aftermath of Katrina, he admitted in a televised interview that he only knew evacuees were being housed at the Convention Center after seeing it on CNN. Ok, so the man has made a few mistakes. Surely, he’s outdone himself in emergency management before, right? Actually, Brown’s resume lists two notable chairmanships prior to that of FEMA: that of the Theodore Roosevelt Association and the International Arabian Horse Association. Hmm… but we can’t fault an under-qualified appointee, can we? It’s someone else’s fault.
It seems as if we should examine Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a likely target. Constitutionally, only she could have called in the National Guard, and their presence certainly did ease tension and generate hope on Friday of the first, seemingly interminable week. I don’t buy it, though. Gov. Blanco has said on national television that she tried to get in touch with President Bush both Monday and Tuesday nights. Only after making her televised plea did she hear from the President, rather than from a low-level advisor. But let’s say she lied; after all, President Bush has mentioned similar inaction on Blanco’s end. Still, it’s an understood fact that no state should be ready to handle a widespread natural disaster. That’s why they call them disasters, catastrophes, chaos. Kathleen Blanco did wait 24 hours to make decisions crucial to the relief efforts. She also turned away the Red Cross and other relief agencies, saying she didn’t want the Superdome or the Convention Center to become a “relief magnet.” It’s the kind of ‘let-them-eat-cake’ remark that makes people lose faith in their government, and I feel it’s time to toss the potato once again.
And so we move on. Who’s next? Is it Condoleezza Rice, who went shoe shopping on Fifth Ave. that first Wednesday and then saw Spamalot? While finding your meal is a tad more important than finding your grail, it’s actually Rice’s boss, President Bush. Who could have called in the National Guard under the Insurrection Act? The act states, “The President shall take such measures as he sees necessary to suppress violence.” Even if the Guard were only called in because of the snipers and looting, President Bush would still be justified in calling them in to relieve the NOPD, which has suffered from suicides and resignations within its ranks. Even those constitutional scholars who dwell in the gray areas of the law would not protest if it was for as recognizably a good outcome as it would have been in this situation. Who relied on patronage, the political theory of rewarding those who supported your campaign with high-profile appointments, to elevate Michael Brown? The same President Bush who merged FEMA with the Department of Homeland Security in bureaucracy masquerading as strength.
Is there a moral to our story, besides that the hot-potato of blame tends to scorch the reputation of whomever’s hands it is in? I don’t know, but I do know that we waited. Two weeks later, apologies were given, but they don’t expunge the rising death toll, which has passed 700 as it continues to climb. Hurricane Katrina was devastating not because of the initial damage quite so much as the response. If it weren’t for the courage of first responders like nurses and firemen, we would have waited too long. We waited three days longer to distribute food than it took to distribute food in Indonesia after the tsunami. We let thousands upon thousands of refugees sit in a sports stadium for days on end. I don’t completely buy into the inaction-as-sport theory, but I do know that if it was a sea of white people on television, we wouldn’t have waited quite so long. We as a nation have, in Rev. Jesse Jackson’s words, “a high tolerance for black pain”, and we waited. We waited so long that is was embarrassing. That doesn’t say much for compassionate conservatism. I leave you with a few words about waiting, courtesy of Texas-based folk duo Deadman.
“We must give; we must give to all the others
Those in need, who we fear to call our brothers
If we stand on a hill and do not touch,
How can we do good?
If we wash our hands of all our friends
What change can really come?
If we hide our fear and don’t draw near
Have we really lived?
Or are we all just standing here,
Hoping there is grace?”
- “When the Music’s Not Forgotten”