Tuesday, September 13, 2005

You're No Harry S. Truman, Mr. President

Will wonders never cease! The Resident learned a new word today: responsibility. In a lame attempt to evoke President Truman, George W. Bush had this to say:

President George W. Bush on Tuesday took "full responsibility" for government failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and said the disaster raised broader questions about the government's ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terror attacks.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani.

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do it's job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.


As more than one waggish commentor at Eschaton has pointed out, he is taking "responsibility," not the blame.

The Resident has promised a full responsibilty-finding investigation into the federal non-response to the crisis. Here, Mr. President: let me make it easier for you.

What person and party lied us into a clusterfuck of a war which hauled National Guardsman from the Gulf Coast, with their amphibious equipment, in to Iraq, thousands of miles from the areas they were supposed to protect?

What person and party placed FEMA under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security, thereby adding an additional layer of bureaucracy and red-tape?

What person and party gutted the budgets of FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers, thereby gutting their capacity to mitigate disasters before they happened and to respond promptly when they occurred?

What person and party was on vacation and stayed there as the National Hurricane Center was screaming about the approach of a devastating storm aimed directly at New Orleans?

What person and party went to California to speak to a hand-picked audience of the blessings of the new Medicare prescription plan rip-off of senior citizens even as the storm pounded the Gulf Coast?

What person and party excused the non-action of the federal government by stating that the papers told them that New Orleans had dodged a bullet when the that city's newspaper, the Times Picayune's headline was "Catastrophe"?

That's just a few of the questions you might want to address Mr. President. Please try to do so without disassembling.

1 Comments:

Blogger Eli said...

This story is from The Onion, right?

4:01 PM  

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