Waiting for a Leader

NYT editorialized George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast.

You don't think they needed those things?

He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.

Should they not send money?

We will, of course, endure, and the city of New Orleans must come back. But looking at the pictures on television yesterday of a place abandoned to the forces of flood, fire and looting, it was hard not to wonder exactly how that is going to come to pass. Right now, hundreds of thousands of American refugees need our national concern and care. Thousands of people still need to be rescued from imminent peril. Public health threats must be controlled in New Orleans and throughout southern Mississippi. Drivers must be given confidence that gasoline will be available, and profiteering must be brought under control at a moment when television has been showing long lines at some pumps and spot prices approaching $4 a gallon have been reported.

Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.

He said "Our efforts are now focused on three priorities: Our first priority is to save lives.... Our second priority is to sustain lives by ensuring adequate food, water, shelter and medical supplies for survivors and dedicated citizens -- dislocated citizens.... Our third priority is executing a comprehensive recovery effort." That sounds to me like he understands the depth of the problem

While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?

Those are problems for State and Local governments to answer. Are you suggestion that the Federal Government should control zoning in a city? I don't believe they should rebuild in a city that is 15 feet below sea level, with just a levee system to keep out the water, unless they have all buildings built on 25 foot columns, and with ways of getting from one building to another if the "bathtub" (as New Orleans was referred to) is flooded.

It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.

Surface water temperature only accounts for 10% of a hurricane's force. They are cyclical in nature and have been for a very long time, and any "scientist" that blames them on global warning does not know what he is talking about.

Barbara O'Brien blogged I'm not just blaming the feds here. One wonders if the state of Mississippi had put half the energy and resources into disaster preparation that they've put into banning abortions, perhaps some lives would have been saved.

John Cole blogged I really am. I just guess I have different expectations for what government can and can’t do, and what government should do.

James Joyner blogged "A day late"? The disaster is ongoing and its extent is still only a guess. What is it that he would have said Tuesday that would have been of any help? And to whom would he have been speaking? The people most affected by Katrina were hardly gathered around Monday and Tuesday awaiting encouragement from the commander-in-chief.

And what sort of "words of wisdom" was he supposed to dispense? As wealthy and scientifically advanced as our country is, we haven't a clue how to deal with disasters of this scale. Indeed, that's what makes them disasters.

Apparently, the president was to come up with a comprehensive plan for preventing damage from future hurricanes in three days--actually two, since the speech was a day late. And, of course, he was supposed to tell people to stop driving SUVs, because we didn't have hurricanes before they became popular.

ROF,LMAO

Bryan S. blogged I would like to suggest to the New York Times editorial board, Paul Craig Roberts, the Corner, and anyone else who is hoping to score some “I told you so’s” or other political points off of this incredible disaster that they sit down and pop open a big ole can of Shutthehellup.

Paul at Wizbang blogged If you think you are more qualified to run the city then the people running it, then by all means when the next election cycle comes around, come on down and throw your hat in the ring. If you think you could have stopped the hurricane if only everyone had listened to you... well I can't help ya.

Oliver Willis blogged There are high school kids who would be more up to the task.

If you know any high school kids that can stop hurricanes, let us know