Unprepared for Katrina
Subtitle: Is this what smaller government looks like? AKA Spending his way out of the doghouse
The following is an excerpt from a commentary I’ve submitted to several publications. … The inadequacies of FEMA can be traced back to President Bush who undermined the progress it made under President Clinton by appointing a political crony with no emergency management experience to lead it, and then privatizing parts of it. In May of 2001, Bush’s FEMA appointee, Joe Allbaugh, suggested to Congress that FEMA had evolved into “an oversized entitlement program.” When Allbaugh resigned to pursue corporate opportunities in Iraq, he left his even less qualified college roommate, Michael Brown, in his place. Folding FEMA into Homeland Security further weakened it. No guidelines were provided for how Homeland Security would pick up the slack, or if they were provided, Homeland Security director, Michael Chertoff, didn’t seem to be aware of them.
Far-right Republicans, like President Bush, have shown little interest in preventative programs that help people and solve problems, like the UN or FEMA. Their answer to everything seems to be privatization, which sets the stage for corporate cronyism and greed. The only government program they clearly support is the military. For years, Republicans complained about the Welfare Program, less than 1% of the federal budget, while spending for the military under their administrations skyrocketed and deficits rose to record levels.
The outpouring of support that Americans have given to those in need has been a testimony to their generosity, but I don’t understand how so many can continue to tolerate an administration that elects to invade another country with the intent to impose democracy, while at the same time it’s systematically eroding domestic programs designed to protect its own citizens.
The Republican catch-phrase, “Get government off our backs,” sounds like a liberating ideal, but the reality is that the images of human suffering that followed Hurricane Katrina’s wrath is what smaller government can look like.
Two weeks after Katrina, with his approval rating the lowest of his presidency, President Bush took the uncharacteristic step of admitting that the response to the disaster was a failure of government at all levels. He’s promised to study what went wrong, but it’s never a good idea for a likely suspect to investigate himself. In order for a study to have any meaning it must be an independent one.
Of course, it shouldn’t take a large tax paid study to determine that the responsibility for recent emergency response failures lies largely with the Bush administration. Their agenda, like that of other far right administrations, aims to weaken social programs because they consider them to be too costly. The irony is that, especially in the case of Katrina, the government will spend more to make up for its grievous failings than it would have cost to prevent those failings by fully funding and supporting domestic programs already in place.
Post Note: I’ve added the entire commentary in the extended entry for those who might be interested. See below…
“The aftermath of Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history.” ~ Louisiana official, Aaron Broussard as he broke down while being interviewed by Tim Russert. Everyone seems to agree that the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina was shameful, they just don’t agree on who was to blame for it. During the first two weeks after the hurricane, Americans were encouraged not to play “the blame game” by the Bush administration and others, but if we don’t pointedly address what went wrong, how can we expect to prevent another such failure?
Two days before the hurricane, the White House declared a Federal State of Emergency in Louisiana, as requested by Governor Kathleen Blanco. Part of the statement posted on the White House website reads: “Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.”
Considering that, coupled with the magnitude of the storm, and the fact that the Louisiana National Guard was already stretched by the deployment of more than 3,000 troops to Iraq, it’s understandable that Louisiana officials expected more of an immediate physical response from the federal government.
In the crucial two days following Hurricane Katrina, when it would have mattered most, President Bush failed to come forth to set the tone for the country. He, who had campaigned on his ability to protect Americans, neglected to act, even as state and local officials were repeatedly pleading for federal help.
But the weakest link in the chain of the botched response to Katrina appears to be FEMA, as news story after news story revealed: The agency dispatched only 7 of its 28 urban search and rescue teams to the area before the storm hit and sent no workers at all into New Orleans until after the hurricane passed (New York Times) … Louisiana National Guard requests 700 buses from FEMA for evacuations: FEMA sends only 100 (Boston Globe) … FEMA head finally requests that DHS dispatch 1,000 employees to the region, gives them two days to arrive (Associated Press).
The inadequacies of FEMA can be traced back to President Bush who undermined the progress it made under President Clinton by appointing a political crony with no emergency management experience to lead it, and then privatizing parts of it. In May of 2001, Bush’s FEMA appointee, Joe Allbaugh, suggested to Congress that FEMA had evolved into “an oversized entitlement program.” When Allbaugh resigned to pursue corporate opportunities in Iraq, he left his even less qualified college roommate, Michael Brown, in his place. Folding FEMA into Homeland Security further weakened it. No guidelines were provided for how Homeland Security would pick up the slack, or if they were provided, Homeland Security director, Michael Chertoff, didn’t seem to be aware of it.
Far-right Republicans, like President Bush, have shown little interest in preventative programs that help people and solve problems, like the UN or FEMA. Their answer to everything seems to be privatization, which sets the stage for corporate cronyism and greed. The only government program they clearly support is the military. For years, Republicans complained about the Welfare Program, less than 1% of the federal budget, while spending for the military under their administrations skyrocketed and deficits rose to record levels.
The outpouring of support that Americans have given to those in need has been a testimony to their generosity, but I don’t understand how so many continue to tolerate an administration that elects to invade another country with the intent to impose democracy, while at the same time it’s systematically eroding domestic programs designed to protect its own citizens.
The Republican catch-phrase, “Get government off our backs,” sounds like a liberating ideal, but the reality is that the images of human suffering that followed Hurricane Katrina’s wrath is what smaller government can look like.
Two weeks after Katrina, with his approval rating the lowest of his presidency, President Bush took the uncharacteristic step of admitting that the response to the disaster was a failure of government at all levels. He’s promised to study what went wrong, but it’s never a good idea for a likely suspect to investigate himself. In order for a study to have any meaning it must be an independent one.
Of course, it shouldn’t take a large tax paid study to determine that the responsibility for recent emergency response failures lies largely with the Bush administration. Their agenda, like that of other far right administrations, aims to weaken social programs because they consider them to be too costly. The irony is that, especially in the case of Katrina, the government will spend more to make up for its grievous failings than it would have cost to prevent those failings by fully funding and supporting domestic programs already in place.
September 16th, 2005 9:50 am
I’m trying to break into magazine writing myself right now and think it is awesome you’ve sent your commentary into papers. Best of luck with it.
Michele sent me.
September 16th, 2005 10:42 am
Excellent point!!
September 16th, 2005 10:46 am
Great article. I too am so amazed by what the American people will put up with. This country has shown amazing generosity towards both Katrina victims and victims of last years Tsunami. This is wonderful. The irony is that we have really sat back and let this war happen. The thing that still amazes me is how we impeached Clinton for lying about having an affair (duh. don’t most people lie about this), yet none of the reasons Bush stated for going to war have proven true. Now, come on people, which “act” has caused more destruction in the world. And really, should we be meddling in everyone else’s business when we can’t manage our own? With so many troops gone we don’t exactly have an abundance of resources to send to an area in our own country hit by a catastrophic disaster. Ooooohhhhh. My blood pressure is up now.
September 16th, 2005 10:47 am
Hey there… Michele sent me!
September 16th, 2005 6:20 pm
Oops. You left out the part about an unprepared city government and an unprepared state government. You know, the one’s with their heads in the sand? The ones that ignored several year’s of warnings?
Would FEMA have done any better under a Democratic administration? Probably not. FEMA’s the ‘Johnny-On-The-Job’ of our government, a stinky eyesore—and a first cousin to OSHA. Katrina’s mess is far too big to be bashing one side or the other. We all need to hitch up our britches and get to work. It’s people and sweat that built our country, and that’s how the Gulf Coast will get rebuilt.
Sorry, Colleen. I can’t get excited about this post with you.
September 16th, 2005 6:57 pm
I’m not one to talk about politics but I think there are many at fault here. FEMA fell down on the job and the mess is being cleaned up..would it have been any different under a democratic pres? maybe..probably not. I can’t go there with so many people suffering down south…hind sight is always 20/20.
September 16th, 2005 6:57 pm
I’m not one to talk about politics but I think there are many at fault here. FEMA fell down on the job and the mess is being cleaned up..would it have been any different under a democratic pres? maybe..probably not. I can’t go there with so many people suffering down south…hind sight is always 20/20.
September 16th, 2005 8:24 pm
Well, I guess I should have posted the whole commentary because I did address some of the state and local response. The post is an excerpt that picks up with the issue of FEMA. But breifly… a state of national emergency was asked for and declared two days before the storm hit. It was more than the state and local governments could handle and they were pleading for federal help.
President Clinton appointed a FEMA director, James Lee Witt, with actual emergency-management experience. He made FEMA a Cabinet level program and Witt reshaped it into a model agency. Bush downgraded it, for sure.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, just know that I don’t write commentaries lightly or before researching what I’m saying. If Clinton waited days before doing anything I’d be on his case too.
I’m not too excited about the whole thing either. Thanks for reading.
September 17th, 2005 12:17 am
Yes, many are at fault but who’s at the helm? Bush even admitted “responsibility,” although admittedly, I don’t know how that helps to fit the problem. So he “spends his way out of the dog house,” as Colleen so aptly said in her entry…hoping that it’ll repair the damage done because of his slow responce. My thoughts are along the lines of many Op-ed writers across the nation, who are saying about his reconstruction program; “This ain’t the New Deal.”
September 17th, 2005 12:19 am
Oops, meant to say “FIX” the problem. I should use “preview” before posting. Sorry.
Kathy
September 18th, 2005 8:51 am
“Spending his way out of the doghouse” is a good title as far as being derrogatory, but it leads people to believe there’s another way for the Government to solve this problem.
Rescue teams are everywhere, everything that can be “manned” is being manned by those equipped, so what exactly is left for Government to do? Throw money at those who need it.
Unfortunately, a better title would be “How Victims Are Taking Advantage of FEMA & Taxpayer Dollars” because that’s what’s happening now.
Because they lived there, they are eligible for things they are taking but don’t need. Government handouts a plenty, taxpayers should be more ticked off at this point that there isn’t a proper monetary assignment system to ensure dollars that go to victims are being used properly. We’ll pay for their new homes and city three times over by the time all is said and done, and it will still be “Bush’s fault”.
We, the People, are responsible adults. At least most of us are. :/
September 18th, 2005 3:08 pm
Hi Leanne,
I agree that there is a glut as far as response to Katrina now…but it is to make up for the lack of quick response when It would have counted most. The whole point of my commentary is that President Bush, like other Right Wing Republicans, has contempt for government programs, and so he downgraded FEMA to the point where it is totally dysfunctional and was caught off-guard on Katrina. FEMA had made great strides under Clinton. Check it out yourself.
The second point is that we will now be spending more than it would have cost to fund programs like FEMA and have them in place when needed. To me it’s ironic that Bush claims to be a conservative but is and plans to spend more than any other president, Republican or Democrat. It’s also ironic that he has created the very thing he loathes…a so called huge entitlement program.
I also have read that President Bush cut federal funding for flood control projects in Lousiana and the Army Corp of Engineer’s budget whose job it was (in part) to maintain the levees. Actually, the funding was said to be diverted into Iraq.
I think good prevention and programs that serve Americans in times of emergency are cost efficient in the long run.
My point is not to be dissing Bush just for the sake of it. I’m just calling it like I see it from looking at the facts.
September 20th, 2005 11:02 pm
Like I always say, don’t listen to the words, watch the deeds. Republicans love big government. How else can they be sure that the poor stay downtrodden? They want Big Brother. It’s just their words that don’t reflect this. But since government spending has increased under every GOP administration since I’ve been old enough to vote–I’d say that the reality doesn’t reflect what the GOP folk say.
September 20th, 2005 11:34 pm
Another good point. Republicans don’t like social programs or raising the minimum wage, but they shouldn’t say they like less government. Just look at the Patriot Act.
They aren’t champions of American’s rights, whether it be civil rights, woman’s rights, rights to privacy or whatever.
Maybe the pendulum is swinging…seems Democrats are more fiscally conservative…just look at how the budget was balanced and the deficit reduced under Clinton…seems Republicans want more government that restricts our personal freedoms.
A lot of double-speak or what?
September 21st, 2005 6:20 am
While individuals differ, to me it seems like the GOP has long been a ‘control freak’ of an organization. The Republicans historically, as a group, want to control the behavior of the people in the USA. And lately they’ve extended that to the rest of the people in the world. It’s a big job–and they’ve appointed themselves to that job. May the gods help us all. The Patriot Act is just one domestic tool in their growing arsenal. Scary times.
Fortunately most of us live below their radar and aren’t affected by these changes but it still riles to see them occuring. For a party that supposedly champions freedom, the GOP certainly doesn’t trust us very far with that freedom. Funny in a way…
November 4th, 2013 4:53 pm
[…] Post Note: The commentary I posted last week, “AKA Spending His Way Out of the Doghouse,” which was about President Bush’s responsibility in being unprepared for Katrina due to his […]