He really does not care: President Bush only roused himself to become engaged in the wake of Hurricane Katrina because it would have been political suicide to do anything less. But he has moved on, and, predictably, so has his government, leaving the citizens of the Gulf Coast to fend for themselves:
Less than three months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, relief legislation remains dormant in Washington and despair is growing among officials here who fear that Congress and the Bush administration are losing interest in their plight.
As evidence, the state and local officials cite an array of stalled bills and policy changes they say are crucial to rebuilding the city and persuading some of its hundreds of thousands of evacuated residents to return, including measures to finance long-term hurricane protection, revive small businesses and compensate the uninsured.
“There is a real concern that we will lose the nation’s attention the longer this takes,” said Representative Bobby Jindal, a Republican from Metairie, just west of New Orleans. “People are making decisions now about whether to come back. And every day that passes, it will be a little harder to get things done.”
Officials from both parties say the bottlenecks have occurred in large part because of a leadership vacuum in Washington, where President Bush and Congress have been preoccupied for weeks with Iraq, deficit reduction, the C.I.A. leak investigation and the Supreme Court.
Congressional leaders have been scrambling to rein in spending, and many in Washington have grumbled that Louisiana’s leaders have asked for too much, while failing to guarantee that the money will be spent efficiently and honestly.
By contrast, many say, Washington’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks seemed more focused and sustained.
Now, with the holiday season days away and the 2006 midterm elections just around the bend, many Louisiana officials say they fear the sense of urgency that spurred action in September is swiftly draining away.
By the way, weren’t the Republicans going to investigate the fatal fumbling of the government’s actions during the story? What ever happened with that?
BUSH NEVER PROMISED THEM ANYTHING!!!!! WHY? HE KNEW HE WAS GONNA TURN HIS BACK AND NOT HELP OR GIVE THEM ANYTHING!!!! LIKE HIS BIG MAMA!! WHEN SHE WALKED OUT OF THE BIG STADIUM IN TEXAS AND SAID THEY GOT ALL THEY NEED!!!!
the no bid contracts to halliburton/( cheney) Bhectel, hiring foreigners instead of new orleans own is a travesty..ceaing the count of bodies a disgrace, the designs of land grabbing finding ways to justify, Fema’s red neck trying to find ways to disqualify persons from receiving assistance, the scattering evacuees all over this nation, the stereoyping, and the entire way this disaster handled during and all going on after needs to be investigated independently and with consecquences. I am an outraged caucasian citizen who clearly sees the classism and racism involved massively throughout the katrina crisis& continuing. We need to get the message out to the public on all that is happening. Sincerely, Sherry Clay Nashua NH
In a second response I’d like to add, the events of Katrina aftermath remind me of the Bull Connerera of guns,guard dogs and fire hoses. The government run/overseen programs for assistance blatantly and painfully remind us how deeply ingrained racist attitudes and beliefs remain in every institution of our society.The land grabbing efforts, and disallowing N.O citizens from decisions and work in rebuling their own community is comparable in aspects to the bulldozing eminant domain ethnic cleansing occurring in Zimbabwe. Citizens across our nation showed a tremendous outporing of caring with generous contributions. We need them to continue their outporing of caring generously contributing their voices,taking action to call congressmen and Senators demanding they right the wrongs that occurred during the days Katrina victims waited for any kind of assistance, while being treated inhumanely, with guns aimed at them, and police blockades preventing them from leaving. And for our nations leaders to put a stop to the injustices that have occurred since. It would be another national disgrace of tremendous magnitude if wealthy land developers take over New Orleans properties.It belongs to the Katrina victims.