[From the diaries by susanhu. What a coherent, concise LTE.] This will be going to my local paper in response to someone who wants to know why so many of us are holding Bush to account over New Orleans. The fact that I even have to write this speaks volumes about the Kool-Aid. Arggh!
Bush and Katrina Accountability
Why have so many critics spoken out against Bush on Katrina rather than looking at local officials? Here are three reasons, each adequate in itself.
More on the flip:
- The simple civics lesson, the one I learned in grade school. Very few Menomonie locals are citizens of New Orleans, or of Louisiana. The local officials there do not work for us, nor do we pay their salaries with our taxes. They are not accountable to us. Bush is another matter.
- Bush built his campaign around the premise that he was the candidate most qualified to protect the American people. We couldn’t turn around without being reminded what a wonderful protector he was, and how he would be ready if another American city faced a disaster like 9/11. Well, Katrina was that disaster. The levees could just as easily have been destroyed by terrorists. The biggest difference between Katrina and another major terrorist attack is that terrorists wouldn’t have given the nation three days warning to preposition Federal resources around the major American city they intended to bring down. The government would have been expected to hit the ground running with zero warning. Since this is the place Bush sold himself as superior, it’s more than reasonable to grade him on it. He failed.
- It’s already become clear that if we the people don’t hold this administration accountable. no one will. In the Senate, a bill was introduced to create an independent, non-partisan commission to investigate the failings of government after Katrina. Every single Democrat voted for it. So did the one independent, a former Republican. The bill was defeated on a party-line vote in favor of a Republican-controlled, Republican-staffed, joint investigation with the Republican-dominated House where the vote was also party-line.
The response to Katrina was an American disgrace. I want to see every official involved in that disgrace held accountable regardless of whether they have a D or an R after their name. I’m starting with Bush because I pay his salary, because his claim to reelection was protection of the American people, and because his Republican allies have made it clear they won’t.