Yesterday I predicted the can't-provide-disaster-relief-because-of-Bush's-phony-war storyline in today's papers. The New York Times, not surprisingly, led the charge.
After initially stumbling through that disorienting day almost exactly four years ago...
Gee, is that a loaded lead-in?
Mr. Bush confronts this disaster with his political capital depleted by the war in Iraq.
...if we do say so ourselves, pat on back...
Even before Hurricane Katrina, governors were beginning to question whether National Guard units stretched to the breaking point by service in Iraq would be available for domestic emergencies. Those concerns have now been amplified by scenes of looting and disorder.
Curiously, the National Guard does not consider the National Guard stretched to the breaking point. A spokesman this morning said 60% of the National Guard units on LA and MS are not in Iraq and are available for service. However, a number of logistical problems exist such as not being able to get wheeled vehicles or heavy boats into the city and people shooting at military helicopters.
Former New Orleans Mayor Sidney Barthelemy (D) didn't wait to pile on, although in his case he is right.
"If we can spend the monies that we are spending to help the people in Iraq, then we can do the same thing for New Orleans," Barthelemy told CNN.
And we will.
Meanwhile Cindy Sheehan blamed the hurricane on Bush because of global warming and his corrupt line-his-own-pockets energy strategy. That was so predictable it is hardly worth noticing. Pack up your granola and go home already. Your 15 minutes are over.
I wish it were harder to believe that even as people (not mere contributions to the body count -- the higher the better? -- but real human beings with families) are fatally dehydrating on their roofs or decomposing in their waterlogged attics, all the media can do is rush to find things to blame on Bush. I have strong emotional and personal connections to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. I have friends there who may well have lost everything including all sources of income and a home to return to. And at this hour, much more than usual, I am angry at the politicking that takes place amid tragedy. It is there that we see what the red/blue divide is really all about. Blue is smearing, lamenting and criticizing while red is donating cash and blood to the Red Cross.
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