Is it really fair to blame Bush for Katrina?

Question

I mean wouldn't the blame for natural disasters be more on the state not being prepared? Somebody said he knew days before that it was a bad storm, but don't all storms have the potential to be bad? Wouldn't that be more of the state to know what their state can handle and have prepared for natural disasters? Bush had to guard the whole country. Doesn't that take the states doing their part to keep natural disaster plans in place? Why is this Bush's fault? Other than it happened on his watch.

Answer 1

Nope.



And the issues with the response were not his fault either.



I was among the initial wave of people who responded to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When I hit 'boots on the ground' we evaluated the resources we had in order to support relief efforts. The only usable road to/from the city was completely blocked with refugee traffic and the only other transportation resource we had was the airfield at Naval Air Station - New Orleans.



The airfield had no electricity, no radars, no cargo handling equipment, no usable fuel, no usable water, no working air traffic control equipment and our only usable communications were one satellite uplink van (that we brought with us).



We did the math and immedeatly realized that it was physically impossible for us to get the necessary qualtities of relief supplies.



In fact we discovered that for the first 36 hours - we could not bring in any relief supplies at all. Instead we had to concentrate on the cargo handling equipment, trucks, fuel, personnel etc. that we needed just to get the relief operation started.



I regard the news media having deliberately mislead the American people by not reporting on the realities those of us who responded faced and instead turned the disaster into a partisan attack on Bush.

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Answer 2

I don't see how you can blame anyone for a natural disaster. True everyone was warned that Katrina would be one helluva storm. Bush called then governor Blanco offering her assistance 3 days ahead of Katrina but she said that they were well prepared. Meanwhile Mayor Nagin left hundreds of school buses parked in parking lots rather than evacuating the people. After it was to late to use the buses Nagin screamed that the government was prejudice and letting his Chocolate City drown.



Since Katrina there has been flooding in Iowa and many other states and you never heard the people crying about a lack of help and barely heard about the floods from the media. Perhaps this is because the majority of the population in those areas are white.



When FEMA came in they issued visa cards to give those affected by Katrina the money to purchase necessities, they evacuated them to better areas such as Houston Tx and paid for their hotel rooms.

The visa cards were squandered on drugs and boom boxes instead of food and clothing. Some stayed in the hotel rooms long after they needed to since it was such an upgrade for what they had before



Millions of Americans donated money to these people to help them get their lives back together, this is one reason that America is so great. Thousands of people went to New Orleans to physically help rebuild housing for the victims and I have not heard any of them offer a simple thank you.



If you really want to lay a finger of blame on why the toll was so heavy you have to start first with Mayor Nagin followed by governor Blanco.



Had Blanco accepted the assistance when offered the toll would have been lower and FEMA would have been on site sooner, had Nagin used the school buses instead of leaving them parked and rendered useless the toll would have been less.



You can no more blame Bush for Katrina than you can Obama for the floods that have occurred in the US this year

Answer 3

The people who blame Bush for Katrina are just stupid...or I guess I should say ignorant. The separation of powers in the constitution forbids the federal government from usurping the authority of the state government in situations like natural disasters. That is why Bush kept asking the Governor for her OK to help out.

Besides that every city of any size has an Emergency Response Plan that they should practice and have down pat....New Orleans also had a written plan but the Mayor did not activate the plan...he did nothing but get on TV and ***** about Bush...I can't believe he got re-elected.

FEMA was overwhelmed for sure...it was a disaster of epic proportions but, the first response should have come from the city and then the state...both of those dropped the ball and failed miserably...but it is politically correct and acceptable to just blame Bush.

Answer 4

No only was it not the fault of Bush but the New Orleans problems weren't caused by Katrina directly, Katrina was not a head on hit for NO. What caused the misery was a decision made to build the levee cheaper, and not as strong as needed because it wasn't 'cost effective'. Its funny that when you trace it back it does come down to decisions made, and not the weather. The Governor of Louisiana didn't do a good job, but he sure had no help at all from DC.

Answer 5

It works like this, local has to request from state, state has to request from federal. Until than Fed can't help. Each locality, state and also the Fed has a system set up for this to happen. IT HAS TO BE INITIATED AT THE LOWEST LEVEL or it won't happen. The Mayor of the city was late in his request, that is why it took so long.



The disaster was largest that we had ever had, it caught everybody off guard. BUT there was issues that city was been warned about a long time before disaster struck.



That city failed it people way before Katrina hit.



P.S. I am not a Bush Fan.

Answer 6

The hurricane did not destroy New Orleans; government bureaucracy and the levee failure did. These levees were found to be unsatisfactory as far back as the Carter Administration so, if blame is to be "levied" (pun intended), it would have to be for all politicians who ignored or voted against any upgrades to the levees due to the cost of repairs. In other words, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" mentality caused their collapse... Then, the fallacy of, Bush being blamed for the lack of federal response when, by law, he could only have ordered federal assistance on state sovereignty AFTER Louisiana leaders formally ASKED for it, so his hands were tied until then. My two questions regarding Katrina has always been: 1) Why when the warning was given, so many physically-able people remained? and 2) If you're going to loot and pillage electronic items in a hurricane, why not also steal a BOAT or the city/school buses sitting unused that could transport the poor? IMHO, the most extreme example of "my government will save me so I'll just sit here" when you have only to save YOURSELF...

Answer 7

Oh dearie, let me explain. Nobody has ever said Bush was to blame for the storm-that's just an act of nature. However, we do blame him (and rightfully so) for completely ignoring the reports on the anticipated severity of the storm and making no attempt to proactively arrange for disaster relief. Then he thought it was important to go hang out and eat birthday cake with John McCain on the day of the storm and not say a word about what was happening or order National Guard troops to be on standby. Then he ignored the devastation and insulted all intelligent Americans by claiming his FEMA chief was doing a great job while people were camping on overpasses and in the Superdome. And finally, he ignored the devastation to the city of New Orleans post-Katrina-his administration spent less money on recovery than Brad Pitt's charity. I don't blame him for Katrina. I blame him for not giving a damn.

**EDIT**

"Ben", did you actually ask who could have predicted such a disaster? They're called the National Freakin' Weather Service, and apparantly everyone in the nation but Bush was aware there was a category 4-5 hurricane headed for the Gulf Coast. Where the heck were you, comatose under a rock? C'mon, a little intellectual honesty is in order...

Answer 8

Actually it is a big red flag on the failures of liberalism as most of the money that was supposed to be used for fortifying levies and water management systems in New Orleans had been used for other giveaways and corruption uses by the elected officials. Blaming Bush just happened to be a convenient thing to do.

Answer 9

I don't think so.



Clearly, the hurricane wasn't the fault, but the response falls under his jurisdiction. He doesn't have complete control over the response though, and technically can't do anything until the state approves of it. Nagin and Blanco took their sweet time giving evacuation orders and declaring a state of emergency.



Beyond that, once it falls in his lap, it's really FEMA's job. If their is a failure, it's because of FEMA, not because of the president. As president, he is in charge of FEMA, but not intimately involved in day to day decisions and planning.



Post Katrina, FEMA saw some major reform. In the same year as Katrina, they did wonders in Ohio to rescue flooded people, once again stranded on rooftops. The extent wasn't as bad as Katrina, but the response was markedly improved. Because everything went well, it was a non-story in the media.

Answer 10

Nagan!

He said;

'This is it. This is the one we've always talked about. Leave now. There is no more New Orleans'



So what steps did Nagan take to get the 10,000 people out of New Orleans he KNEW could not get out on their own?



NOTHING!



He left the entire New Orleans Fleet of school buses and Transit buses with NO drivers. He sent them away. They could have moved ALL those people out BEFORE the storm.



His plan was to hold up in a hotel room on dry ground and be a talk radio show caller and demand that somebody in Washington...'...better get off their azzes and do something...'



Brilliant!



The idiots in New Orleans re-elected him because he said he would make New Orleans a 'chocolate' city.



I wouldn't send that dump another nickle.

Answer 11

I don't blame Bush, I blame the fact he appointed the wrong people in Homeland security, a campaign manager, Lieberman etc. The state was unprepared in terms of disaster drills, evacuation, the needs of hospitals, their whole society of being racial and petty came out blazing for all America to see and Americans answered by truly helping people not the state of Louisiana.

Answer 12

There were many who were at fault for what happened after Katrina hit. It wasn't just one person or one political party. It was mishandled at many levels. Let us just hope that it was a lesson learned.



No one blamed Bush for the hurricane.

Answer 13

" In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.



Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."



Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show that federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast."



I made sure i used a Fox news report so that nobody can say it is bias.

You should be able to see a link to the video at link below.

Answer 14

You can't put the blame for not being ready on anyone but the state. That's where it ends though. When the time came for FEMA to step in, like they do in most cases, that's when the blame shifts to Bush for their actions or inaction's.

Answer 15

Actually why not blame someone who can forecast the weather much farther into the future like Al Gore. By the way, does anyone know of a site where I can watch Al Gore's Doomsday Clock, to watch it count down?

Answer 16

No. I blame Bush for a lot, but Katrina is not one of them. The fault of the disaster lies clearly at the feet of the Mayor of New Orleans and the then Governor. Also, reconstruction should have been completed a long time ago, except greedy, lazy entitlement-minded people there spent the money on other things or refused to move to the newly constructed homes, demanding that the government rebuild theirs in flood-prone areas.

Answer 17

Yeah becaue every one of his critics regardin Katrina had the solution for getting supplies through 6 to 12 ft of water to people who had plenty of notice to get out and who lived in a city that refused to enact its own evacuation plan to get its citizens without means to get to safety.



I'm no Bush fan but he didn't have a goddamn thing to do with Katrina.

Funny how not one of those baboons who stayed behind has ever said "I guess I should have been prepared for something like this since I know I live below sea level."

Answer 18

The thing that amazes me most about you and those like you is your sub-human ability to dismiss the suffering of an entire city of our country to make political points.



You are not capable of realizing that the New Orleans fire department who could ordinarily respond to a disaster was under water. Cities don't own rescue helicopters to pluck dying people off their roof.



And yes, Bush was on watch and Sean Penn had to pull his boat to New Orleans to help and arrived there before the US government took it's collection finger out of its AZZ and started to move.



I supposed that you agree with the libertarian azzwipe neil bortz that those people deserved to die.



You have no idea what you are talking about and demonstrate either a complete ignorance of reality or a complete disregard for human suffering.



I am on the volunteer fire department of a neighboring state and our convoy of relief was turned back at the state line by armed thugs under the command of Bush.



And again, genius, New Orleans had NO means to cope with that storm.



You and yours are a disgrace to the human race and a stain on our country.



Now go ahead and and push that report button you little piece of shite and shut your ugly stupid mouth.



Maybe one day you will grow into a real person with the good sense and human decency to show a bit of compassion for your fellow Americans instead of a shallow idiot with the brain of a salamander.

Answer 19

I always thought it was more of the mayor's fault then Bush's fault. True Bush could have done a bit more afterwords, but the mayor was the one who was supposed to be prepared for things like this.

Answer 20

No, it isn't. You're right, it was a state/local issue, and Louisiana and New Orleans failed miserably.



New Orleans flooded many decades ago, in the 1930s or 1940s or something, and all the federal govt did was supply them with some military supplies, and then charged them for it. Yet there is no uproar. Back then, people were expected to be responsible for taking care of themselves, whereas today people expect the govt to take care of them if anything goes wrong.

Answer 21

yes, bush failed to keep the Storm from making land fall.

Answer 22

Of course not.



That was Liberals piling on anything they could find to trash him.



I heard the reports on the radio before the hurricane - there was plenty of forewarning, but some people chose to take it lightly.



Notice the Samoa response, but of course nothing was said about that.

Answer 23

Yes, it was all Bush's fault because it was caused by global warming, now known as 'climate change', and Republicans are for polluting the air.

Answer 24

luisiana was sending the feds cryptic messages about what they needed help with. the federal gov. was ready to go its just that the state couldnt get their **** together in time ask for real assistance.

Answer 25

Bush signed in emergency funds a day before Katrina hit, New Orleans mayor is the one to blame, for not evacuating the city.

Answer 26

FEMA is a federal program and acted ineptly. And never forget this comment from Bush during the aftermath of Katrina:



"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job"



Then shortly later he fired the incompetent.

Answer 27

True.

I'm a lib and i know it wasn't his fault.

I remember visiting New Orleans long before Katrina my dad who had helped design some of those locks in the Corps of Engineers telling me how pissed he was that the city had not upgraded those locks yet.

They had the money to fix it and the city should be blamed and no one else.

Answer 28

the only blame to be laid is on the dem leadership, or lack there of, of louisinana. more than 400,000 has been spent per person for the recovery of the area. what more could of been done?

Answer 29

actually Bush instantly declared it a national disaster and gave out billions in aid...the dems in congress and in state government held it up and spent on their own personal agendas....Bush did what he was supose to...the dems in the state government took the money and ran

Answer 30

Katrina was an act of nature, how can anyone have anticipated such a disaster. Leave it to the democrats to make a political issue out of such a thing. Worse yet, it shows the level of intelligence lacking in it's followers, to buy into its accusations !

Answer 31

Well why not, he is blamed for everything else. might as well blame him for global warming and the destruction of the rain forest too. My piccu ate my guppy last night, I'm pretty sure that was Bushes fault also.

Answer 32

The first line of defense is the locals. They knew for two weeks it was coming and did very little. Then the State, and finally the Feds.

None performed that well, but Bush without a doubt has shouldered most of the scorn.

But its good, New Orleans is still a "chocolate" city.

Answer 33

Bush isn't blamed for the hurricane, he's blamed for how slowly he acted in sending federal aid to the people in NO.

Answer 34

No one blames Bush for Katrina...EVERYONE should blame Bush for neglecting the plight of those who were effected by Katrina. I suspect that's the part you are confusing...

Answer 35

No. The people in that Democrat city are to blame for the disaster. Even Sean Penn walked around with a shotgun in case a democrat would try to rob him.



http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/images/sean_penn_gun_2.gif

Answer 36

not for the hurricane it's self thats nature no one cant do anything about that,but for the response yes he really screwed that up.

Answer 37

Neocon, it is very much fair to blame Bush for post Katrina disaster. No one blamed or blames this criminal idiot for hurricane itself. Your question is deliberately misleading as usual.

Answer 38

never heard of anyone 'blaming' bush for Katrina.

Just for his inaction following that tragedy.

Answer 39

Why? Is she pregnant again?