Friday, September 02, 2005

A perfect storm

From both ends of the political spectrum come indictments of the government's failure to respond to the unfolding catastrophe in New Orleans. First, from Paul Krugman:

I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad. Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.

At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.

Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk.

So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job. And while it makes those excuses, Americans are dying.

And from the right comes Jonah Goldberg, with a more generalized complaint about the corruption of the nation's political class:

The choice isn't between a lean, fiscally responsible, Republican budget and a porcine Democratic budget which included money for first responders. The Republican Congress has proven to be just about as disgusting in its spending as a Democratic Congress might have been. Sure, perhaps Democrats would have spent a bit more, but Republicans are supposed to be against bloated government and the stealing of tax dollars for personal projects and missions. So whatever pennies we've hypothetically saved with Republicans, their hypocrisy and betrayal of principle more than compensates. ...

...we were supposed to be preparing --at the national level -- for a major terrorist attack for the last four years. I just don't see much evidence of that preparation. Congress re-assembled lickity-split to deal with Terri Schiavo -- a decision that didn't and does not bother me the way it bothers some. But however you define the issues involved in that case, in terms of real human suffering they are very hard to stack-up against what's happened in New Orleans. Congress should have convened yesterday and rescinded the highway bill. It should have broken-open the farm bill like a piƱata and reallocated the monies therein.

For supporters of the war, this spectacle is going to be particularly hard to accomodate because it is in the interests of the political classes to keep their pork and it is in the interests of the antiwar left to frame this as a choice between Baghdad and New Orleans. That should not be the choice. The choice should be between the highway bill, ag subsidies and the like. The Don Young Highway should at least be renamed to the "Go Suck Eggs New Orleans Highway."


I don't think there's anything to add, do you?

2 Comments:

Blogger Jonathan Potts said...

First, let me say that I hope everything turns out for the best with your family.

I don't have time to respond adequately. And frankly I don't dispute most of what you say. I think people do need to be asking hard questions of state and local officials about why there wasn't a concerted effort to evacuate the city. NO's history of well-documented corruption aside, the larger national question is whether other American cities, post-9/11, have evacuation plans, and why NO didn't have one or didn't put it into effect. Shouldn't the feds be pushing cities to do this, and if possible providing some money for it too?

The big problem with Bush is that his response to this tragedy--which neither the war in Iraq nor his poor environmental record caused, admittedly--seems typical of the manner in which his administration has tackled many problems: half-assed. I don't expect him to be Clinton, able to turn on the tears at a moment's notice, but a little empathy might be nice. I used to think this whole vacation thing was overblown, but why did he take his nice sweet time sauntering back across the country? It's all too reminescent of his failure, albeit for security reasons, to return to Washington immediately after Sept. 11. Americans need to feel that their president has their back, and despite all his swagger and tough talk, I don't feel that way with him anymore.

Let's consider the impact this is having on our oil supply. Now this country was addicted to cheap oil long before Bush was elected--before he was born--but his administration's insistence on telling Americans that they can continue on with their same gas-guzzling lifestyle, as if the war on terror might never effect our ability to import oil from the Middle East, or as if the Saudis might never reach the day when they can no longer tap their oil resorvoirs, is downright irresponsible and has left the nation ill-prepared to deal with a crisis when it comes. The president's plea last night for Americans to only use the gas they need was downright laughable.

It is unfair, perhaps, to use the hurricane as a cudgel to attack the president for Iraq. But it is a reminder that this president led us into an unnecessary war with no apparent way to win it, and he's refused to acknowledge the consequences.

7:35 PM

 
Blogger Jonathan Potts said...

I meant "no apparent plan" to win it.

7:36 PM

 

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