The Katrina Response
It's fairly clear from the reporting – starting with this NYT piece and going through the wires, foreign papers, and the BBC – that Michael Brown's disclosure today regarding how much the White House knew about Katrina's impact and when they knew it is only going to further obfuscate the true problem, namely, that the Bush gang were quite happy for the worst to happen and that initially, thinking they could get away with it, their plan was to do as little as possible or perhaps even nothing at all.
Philosophically, Bush opposes the federal government having something like FEMA. Private charities and religious organizations, instead, should take up the slack. To the extent the government does get involved in disaster management he sees only an opportunity to reward allied business interests. The people affected have nothing to do with it whatsoever.
A corollary here: the Democrats won't score political points on an 'incompetence' issue, despite the associated incompetence being abundantly obvious. It's asking the public to take literally something that a majority knows isn't exactly true. A direct appeal to class conflict, as former President Jimmy Carter made at Coretta Scott King's memorial service, will, however, resonate, as a majority instinctively knows that that is true.
A further corollary: if Democrat leaders had spines they'd have fewer problems.
Posted by George Kenney on February 10, 2006 5:56 PM 
« What The Hand Dare Seize The Fire... | Main | Slow News »
Leave a comment