a response to those who took issue with my last few posts...

[lagilman]

First:
Yes, damn it, I was in Manhattan for 9/11. So don't even think about playing that card. Ever.

Second:
From this morning's New York Times:


WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 - There was anger: David Vitter, Louisiana's freshman Republican senator, gave the federal government an F on Friday for its handling of the whirlwind after the storm. And Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, declared, "We cannot allow it to be said that the difference between those who lived and those who died" amounted to "nothing more than poverty, age or skin color."

There was shock at the slow response: Joseph P. Riley Jr., the 29-year Democratic mayor of Charleston, S.C., and a veteran of Hurricane Hugo's wrath, said: "I knew in Charleston, looking at the Weather Channel, that Gulfport was going to be destroyed. I'm the mayor of Charleston, but I knew that!"

But perhaps most of all there was shame, a deep collective national disbelief that the world's sole remaining superpower could not - or at least had not - responded faster and more forcefully to a disaster that had been among its own government's worst-case possibilities for years.


read the rest before you try to tell me my anger is misplaced, or political, or anything other than what it is -- human and humane outrage at a leader who could not be bothered to do anything for the people he claimed to represent, until fingers started to point at him and cry 'shame, shame!'

No, it's not all Bush's fault. But he is the one who was visibly inactive, vocally clueless, and overall, at the end of the day, represents us to the world, no matter how much some of us may deplore that fact. Part of the job -- a large part of the job -- is to be lightning rod for critics, at home and abroad.

Comments

[chickwriter.livejournal.com]

Part of the job -- a large part of the job -- is to be lightning rod for critics, at home and abroad.

Yes, exactly. Obviously, this is no more than a photo-op and talking-head op for him.

Thank you for your posts and insight. I've not commented until now, but have been reading.

BTW, I was in DC for 9/11.

Presidential Culpability

[chaoticgoodnik.livejournal.com]

President Truman had a sign on his desk that some readers may recall hearing of "The buck stops here." It's true.

The Unfeeling President (http://www.easthamptonstar.com/20040909/col5.htm) by E.L. Doctorow - a column on how GWB doesn't understand death. It rang true to me.

[rdsp.livejournal.com]

I agree wholeheartedly. My wife worked next to the Pentagon and had to be evacuated on 9/11, my mother was the receptionist at the country's first anthrax clinic, and I live right next to multiple scenes of the sniper attacks. We know about terror. Which is PRECISELY why we're upset about the way this has been handled; it has not only perpetuated a sense of terror in N.O., but across the nation and even abroad.

Speaking of being our country's public face, why was it so much more reasurring to see Morgan Freeman (who actually seemed to have a plan) rather than our own president? If he can't make good policy, he could at least make good TV. Right?

[bill-leisner.livejournal.com]

No, it's not all Bush's fault. But he is the one who was visibly inactive, vocally clueless, and overall, at the end of the day, represents us to the world, no matter how much some of us may deplore that fact.

And it stuns me that there are people who don't get this. Even if all the criticism is just nasty, evil libruls venting their spleens... what is there that Bush did in the past week worthy of defending? Is there one thing he did as the president... as the head of the executive branch under which FEMA operates... as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces... that was right and helpful and admirable? Funny that nobody seems willing or able to offer an answer to that question.

[greeneyedkzin.livejournal.com]

Another New Yorker here. In violent agreement with the other posters.

This has been horribly mishandled. In any country, it would be a tragedy, but I'm stunned we couldn't have done better.

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

You need to read this column. VERY strong language warning, heh.

Ever wonder why New Yorkers detest George Bush?

Because we experienced his incompetence up close and person. We knew this guy was full of shit, absolutely full of fucking shit, after they started to play games with the funding and gave Wyoming terrorism money. We knew he was an assclown then.

[sleary.livejournal.com]

Part of the job -- a large part of the job -- is to fucking show up.

I live in Texas. Even here, not two hours' drive from Shrub's vacation spot, people are disgusted with his performance.