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Ron Jackson's Perspective
The Sunday Journal -
Think
Kankakee, Illinois
March 5, 2006
Bush Katrina video
no surprise or shock |
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Even at the White House's urging of me not to read too much into the video footage, it's very
hard to not do that. The just-released video of a briefing attended by the president the day before Hurricane Katrina hit and five days
before the president admitted he was aware of the vulnerability of the New Orleans levees is what we are not supposed to believe what
we see.
The video showed President Bush linked by video from his vacation home in Crawford, Texas, listening as experts and advisors
warned him of the severity of the pending storm and the dire consequences to be expected. One hurricane expert had “grave
concerns” about the levees being topped.
The darling one minute, scapegoat the next, former FEMA director, Michael Brown, told the president that putting people into
the New Orleans Superdome would create another catastrophe. Brown also expressed concerns about the medical and mortuary capabilities
of the region after the hurricane.
Even against the suggestions by his advisors that there was concern of the government’s lack of ability to respond to Katrina
should it reach its expected potential, in what has been his normal Bush bravado, the president assured state officials the federal government was fully prepared.
This is what the president told officials during that pre-hurricane videoconference. “I want to assure the folks at the
state level that we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm, but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have
at our disposal after the storm.” We all know that the actual response and allocation of federal resources did not meet that
promise, but it’s standard Bush Operating Procedure. Speak first, worry about production later. Thousands of unused trailers are
still sitting in parking lots.
Look at the promise he made to the American and Iraqi people.
He promised the Iraqis freedom from Saddam, democracy and a rebuilt country. He promised us the capture of Osama bin Ladin. Both
promises captured on video.
Was the president’s assurance of readiness in response to the concerns of flooding of New Orleans if the waters from Lake
Pontchartrain topped the levees anything more than his shoot from the hip style of leadership? There was no mention at the time that
the levees could be breached or broken. There is a vast difference in flood levels from water coming over the levees and water coming
through the levees.
This latest video is not a Bush basher’s bonanza. While it may show he contradicted himself in revealing when he first learned of
the severity of the hurricane, it doesn’t establish any more responsibility for the poor response than already ascertained.
Nothing in the video can be used to shift anymore blame on the president for what happened after Katrina hit.
Not so long ago, we saw and heard a president stand and point his finger at us and utter,
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” After learning that was not true, and experiencing zero loss of American life, we
spent millions and millions of dollars to make that man’s life miserable.
Now we have on tape a president stating four days after the biggest natural disaster in our history that no one could have
anticipated a failure of the New Orleans levees.
One president used the “what the meaning of ‘is’ is defense. Another can use the “what the meaning of ‘breached’ is defense.”
Remember the video footage of the president reading to schoolchildren from a book that was upside down on September 11?
Remember that really dumb eight-minute look the president had on his face after being told that the Twin Towers had been hit by an
airplane? I think that is not the look the White House wants us to see in this latest video.
Nothing in the video can put the blame on Bush for all the people in New Orleans who were not evacuated. No expert was heard
warning the president that 500 school buses would never be used. There was just not anything of substance on the video to further
damage the president’s image.
I'll admit that is exactly what I was looking for. I was disappointed. |
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