| So I say, put the BBC
in charge of federal emergency response. They,
and virtually every other major news organization
from around the world, had traveled to New Orleans
to cover a disaster that we all knew was coming. Everyone,
it seems, except the United States federal government.
So, why not just put the media in charge?
They’re as good a choice as anyone, and they’ve
already proven themselves in action.
Republicans have two terms used to dismiss those
unimpressed with the performance of FEMA. The first
is, "Monday morning quarterbacking". This,
however, is not an appropriate application. You and
I are most likely not qualified to play professional
football. We are, however, qualified by administration
standards to head up the Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
Perhaps putting an actual rescuer in charge of FEMA
would be raising the bar to potentially unmatchable
levels. And I fear that the interim head of Katrina
efforts may just be doing that, with over 15,000 rescues
under his belt.
By previous hiring standards, virtually everyone
in the world was qualified to run FEMA—even
if the lies on their resume fell breathtakingly short
of even suggesting that they are capable of large-scale
emergency management.
Michael Brown received his J.D. from an unaccredited
school. While in college, he was an intern for the
City Manager of Edmond, Oklahoma. After school, he
ran for city council, won, and resigned. He went back
to private practice. He was fired. He was Chair of
the Municipal Power Authority, ran for Congress, and
was soundly beaten. He went to work for the International
Arabian Horse Association, began raising money for
his own legal defense fund (which was unnecessary,
as his contract said IRHA would pay any such costs,)
and was given the boot.
That's right: You too can lead FEMA! You too can
be responsible for safeguarding the lives of millions
of Americans. You too can get a nifty Presidential
nickname. And if you’re with the BBC, you’ve
already got my support.
The second term they use to dismiss criticism of
the federal response to Katrina is, "The Blame
Game". If you think that leaders shouldn't be
judged by their response to immediate threats to the
lives of their constituent... don’t vote. Ever.
If you call that, “The Blame Game,” don’t
play it. Just sit back, shut up, and tune in to Dr.
Phil.
For those of you in need of written affirmation
of the obvious: The primary purpose of government
is protection. When he was told the country was under
attack, after having tried to convince us that nuclear
weapons could land on our doorsteps in just 15 minutes,
George W. Bush sat blankly at a photo op for 7 minutes,
waiting for somebody to tell him what to do. He posed
for some dramatic photos, invaded a country that had
nothing to do with the attack, and this country re-elected
him. And then, when he was told that a major U.S.
city was 80% under water, he went about his vacation
as if nothing happened. Let it never be said that
voters don't get the government they deserve.
One quick question, for readers of all political
ideologies: Can you give me a good reason why a man
whose last job as a lawyer was training judges
of Arabian race horses should have been made
the head of FEMA, at a time when public policy and
discourse centered nearly entirely around the possibility
of a large-scale terrorist attack? After that question
is answered, you can play “the blame game”
until you’re blue in the face, and know that
the resolution is meaningless. No matter how it turns
out, this President is still a delusional, reckless
child of privilege who is, quite simply, the biggest
embarrassment this country has ever produced.
But inaction is not his biggest failing as a President,
as a leader, and as a human being. A dangerous marriage
to illusion is. “Brownie” was put in charge
of FEMA because the President thought that he, as
a major supporter, would protect Bush’s public
image in a time of crisis, not because he was capable
of organizing and mobilizing emergency relief efforts
in case of a major disaster. It wasn’t American
lives this President was thinking of when he appointed
a man like Michael Brown to head up FEMA—it
was his own public image.
George W. Bush’s primary purpose, it seems,
is spouting feel-good garbage that re-enforces a fantasy
world that our culture created so very long ago. In
it, oil will never run out, and the moment it does,
we’ll all have cars power by hydrogen. In it,
there are bad men who lurk in every shadow, hating
us only for our freedom. In it, evolution
does not exist and children will never reproduce if
we don’t tell them about condoms. In it, God
intervened in our electoral process to make him President.
In it, there is no global warming, no matter how many
gases we pump into the atmosphere, knowing that they
trap heat, and no matter how much the temperatures
rise. And in it, local governments were responsible
for FEMA’s slow response to hurricane Katrina,
whose devastating damages no one could have predicted.
In the real world, the governor of Louisiana requested
assistance two days before the hurricane even hit.
George W. Bush said, on September 1, on national television:
“I don't think anybody anticipated the breach
of the levees.” In the real world, the levees
were only designed to combat a category 3 hurricane,
not the category 5 that Katrina became. This is why
evacuations were called before the hurricane hit.
(Combined with the fact that upgrade projects weren't
to be completed until 2015, this also renders moot
the argument that Bush cut funding of levees, although
he did, in fact, do so). In the real world, "Brownie"
wasn't doing a heck of a job. But did Bush even know
about it?
The most frightening thing is that he may have been
telling the truth, based upon what he himself believed.
Reports, recently, have claimed that nobody told Bush
just how bad the situation in New Orleans was until
days after the fact. Is the President really so insulated
from reality? Nancy Pelosi claims that when she pressed
Bush for explanations, he asked, “What didn't
go right?”
We all have since seen “Brownie” tell
Paula Zahn that they didn’t even know survivors
were in the convention center until days after they
sought refuge there. Apparently, he and Bush were
the only two guys in America that didn’t
know.
In spite of his obvious failings, the Republican
attack machine mobilized to protect their president.
The attacks against Governor Blanco at first seemed
justified—until we all had time to get past
the talking heads and do a little research. Now, they’re
simply nauseating. She didn't sign over authority
to the Feds, this much is true. But would anybody
in their right mind, after four days of disastrous
non-response, have signed authority over to FEMA?
Especially sickening have been the attacks leveled
against New Orleans mayor Nagin. After seven days
of dealing with an unprecedented disaster, the right
wing began to portray him, well, as sort of a drama
queen. “Ragin’ Nagin.” 80% of his
city was under water, his constituents were spread
across the country, or stranded and dying, and he
had the nerve to be upset.
The right wing repeatedly, disgustingly, began drawing
comparisons between Hurricane Katrina and 9/11. The
message was always the same: Our boy Guiliani
didn’t panic. Of course, their boy Guiliani
was dealing with damage that spanned a few city blocks,
—not the immersion of an entire city. And their
boy Guiliani wasn’t actively involved in rescue
efforts, either. I don’t mean to downplay the
tragedy of 9/11, and certainly not the heroism of
those involved in the rescue efforts. But any comparison
of the two crisis is specious at best. So why make
it? Unlike Katrina, Bush was popular after 9/11, and
any opportunity to capitalize on left over sentiments
will be exploited by those who would claim that patriotism
means poor leadership.
Did local governments fail to utilize every possible
mode of evacuation? Undoubtedly. We’ve all seen
the images of school buses soaking in the lots. Local
governments also failed to make sure that every car
leaving New Orleans was full, and that every family
with two cars took both when they left. But dealing
with a major natural disaster without federal assistance
is not something a local government in this country
should ever have to do. If only there was some Federal
organization—an Agency—that existed
for the purpose of Emergency Management.
If only.
And let us not forget the other government body
that let our people down: The United States Senate.
After just 42 minutes, much of which reads like the
transcript of a tea party at Joe Lieberman’s
house, Brown was made head of FEMA without so much
as a phone call to the school he never actually taught
at, or the house he didn’t actually run. This
is what Republicans call “obstructionist Democrats
in action."
Yet, if there is a villain in this story, it isn’t
the Senate, the Governor, the Mayor, the President
or even the hurricane—it’s the neighbors.
While communities and people across the country were
opening their homes to flown-in refugees, police from
New Orleans suburbs literally barricaded survivors
in. After being told they should use Highway 90 to
leave the city by foot, survivors reached the city
of Gretna, where they were turned around by a police
barricade. Southern hospitality.
Police Chief Arthur Lawson told UTI: “If we
had opened the bridge, our city would have looked
like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged.”
As if the citizens of New Orleans are simply prone
to looting, and that the life-or-death situation they
faced had nothing to do with their desire to secure
food and water, and in some cases, guns to protect
them. It’s like they’re modern day Vikings,
those people! Lawson seems even more delusional than
Bush, which is certainly saying something. But, at
least we can all get a good giggle at the clearly
deranged implication that survivors would somehow
transfer the post-disaster fires to Gretna. But, let's
be honest: The people of Gretna are symptoms of a
broader, gated-community mentality that plagues Middle
America.
Especially telling of this sheltered mentality is
the oft-repeated line that it was a corrupt police
force that allowed lawlessness to run rampant in New
Orleans. Police, who need food or water just as much
as anybody, were blamed for looting (unless they were
white, then they were “finding food”).
They were slammed by wingnut bloggers for quitting,
or even committing suicide, after over a week of fighting
both anarchy and the elements for survival and control
of the city. Mayor Nagin, or “Nayger”
as Limbaugh called him, was derided for suggesting
they needed a vacation.
Meanwhile, the former head of FEMA, who failed so
miserably at a job he never should have been given,
reported that he himself needed a Margarita, some
sleep, and a few days off. “No wonder nobody
wants to go into public service,” he remarked
to family and friends. (I would feel bad for Brown,
in way over his head, were it not for the fact that
at some point, even the dimmest dullard would have
asked what F-E-M-A stood for.)
Republican urban legend machines like Free Republic
spent much of the immediate aftermath repeating the
lie that rescue crews were unable to enter the city
of New Orleans because headstrong survivors were shooting
at them. And, while it is true that there were gunmen
running loose in New Orleans, they hardly prevented
the Red Cross, or the BBC, from getting through. And
the implication, that appropriate numbers of National
Guardsmen had arrived to utter chaos the day after,
is patently false.
So, again, I say: Play the blame game, if you think
that responsibility for the safety of the American
people is nothing more than that. Defend FEMA. Defend
the President. But, if we want to prevent loss of
life in the next natural or man-made disaster, somebody
else needs to take charge. That somebody could be
you. Competition is tougher than it used to be, though.
I, for one, am already behind Gavin Hewitt at the
BBC.
Avery Walker is a Managing Editor of Raw Story,
and can be reached via e-mail at avery@rawstory.com.
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