Saturday, September 03, 2005

The Blame Game

America enjoys many sports, some of which people from within our own borders invented or perfected.
But our favorite is - who can we blame and how bad can we make them look? I'll take part a little bit but let me say this from the outset: There's plenty blame to go around. I don't think it can be placed at one person's feet.
No matter how badly people like Bill Maher want President George Bush to fall in disgrace, I don't think this situation has any one clear bad guy, though clearly there's plenty blame to go around.
By the way, maybe Bill Maher ought to take his scrawny butt down to the Big Easy and help out instead of flapping his gums about this being Bush's "Waterloo." I would go but I have a baby on the way, I'm still moving and I'm trying to find other ways to help.
Mayor Ray Nagin told people to go to the Superdome as a last resort, but for some reason, the resources weren't in place to help people when they arrived, so we had a literal stinking mess with death and the worst of humanity all around.
The feds appear not to have taken the initiative to overstep local and state authority, but that may be out of reluctance to set a precedent or simply not knowing where to start, not out of a lack of concern or turning a blind eye because the overwhelming majority of those left behind are black.
The situation in New Orleans for those who legitimately need help is horrifying.
Why did it take so long for help to start arriving? The answer isn't immediately clear, but I do wonder if our military resources are stretched way too thin.
Maybe there was a reluctance to send in the regular Army and use the same ammunition we're using in the War on Terror. It sounds like we should clear New Orleans on a house-to-house, block by block effort and apparently those resources are not available.
We should have had at least two brigades of regular Army ground-pounders in place by now alongside the National Guardsmen.
While everyone knew New Orleans was built in a bowl, why wasn't there a coherent plan to clear it out if something catastrophic happened? I have no idea, but maybe we need to learn a whole bunch of lessons out of this.
Ok, time to go make another move run. More later.

1 comment:

Martha said...

I totally agree... some people must ahve someone to blame but I do believe it's many who need to shoulder this burden. I am sick of the children and suffering.. May God be with them!