Look Who's Not Talking
Partisan jockeying is expected in the political game when stakes are low and times are good. But if any of the botched post-hurricane relief efforts stem from partisan antipathy, well, what can you say? If that were the case, someone needs an ass-kicking.
Apparently, the White House neglected to tell Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco that President Bush would be touring the storm-ravaged area today.
"Tension between the Blanco and Bush administrations has surfaced in recent days as state and federal officials try to coordinate recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
"The Blanco administration clearly wanted to express their irritation with the communication about the president's trip. Blanco officials said they had heard that the president might make a visit and had been trying to get details. As of late Sunday night, FEMA officials told Blanco that the president was not planning a visit, [Blanco communications director Bob] Mann said."
Such lack of communication, especially on something this rudimentary, is inexcusable.
posted by Chase McInerney @ 2:04 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
absolutely ridiculous.. petty partisan crap. Repubs might hate Bill Clinton, but he damn sure wouldn't have done that. He and his FEMA team were outstanding, working with an equally well organized state government during April, 1995 bombing and May, 1999 tornadoes in Oklahoma. I see Blanco hired James Lee Witt, former FEMA director to be a consultant for La. Good move. I think she has a lot to answer to about the state response, but bringing Witt on was a good idea.
It's becoming evident that both the foul-ups and outrage over the foul-ups are bipartisan and multi-jurisdictional in nature.
Here's what a rising Republican contender for '08 and beyond had to say about it: "I look at FEMA and I shake my head,'' said a furious Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney
yesterday, calling the response "an embarrassment.'' - quoted in the Boston Globe.
And as anyone who's worked on disasters will tell you, the FEMA response on OKBOMB and OK Tornado was outstanding, but the disasters were both much more limited in scope -- nothing compared to the hammering the Gulf Coast took.
Someone also indicated to me that the feds tried to take away management of the entire thing from Blanco in recent days because they were so concerned over her handling of it -- and she refused. Any truth to that?
From the little I've been able to ascertain, the White House wanted to be able to federalize the National Guard response so that all state troops would answer to federal command. Blanco refused, which I didn't understand, except that one analyst on TV (remember when dumb blondes and info pitchmen were the staples of TV? not frigin' experts!)said that a federalized force would have ended the Guard's ability to shoot on site, as per Blanco's previous directive. Now, I'm not sure if that's true, but that's the reason the governor's office gave for fighting it, anyway.
tell Kanye West that it's the Gov that wants to shoot on site, not the President. Maybe he will say that she doesn't care about black people either
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