Now that President G.W. Bush has apologized, at least in part, for the perceived failure of FEMA and the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, one must ask what was behind the apology in the first place? It appears Mr. Bush felt the only way to calm the public was to take responsibility for what the federal government had done. I think this is admirable but terribly unnecessary, especially when you consider the facts pertaining to the federal government’s response.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette writer, Jack Kelly, has chronicled the Bush/FEMA response to Katrina. It turns out that Bush and FEMA performed very well in comparison to past administrations. Kelly reported, “The federal response here was faster than in (Hurricane) Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne.”
Kelly went on to report, “The Federal government pretty much met its standard timelines, but the volume of support provided during the (first) 72-96 hours was unprecedented.”
Unprecedented? Based on what the mainstream media told us you would think this was the worst response to any natural disaster in American history.
Let’s take a look at Hurricane Floyd, which occurred in 1999 under Bill Clinton’s watch. Clinton’s hand picked FEMA director, James Lee Witt, was so overwhelmed it took months to accomplish what Bush accomplished in about a week. In fact, it took Bill Clinton five days to activate the National Guard in response to Hurricane Floyd.
So how did Bush perform? Well, once the levees broke in New Orleans, President G.W. Bush had FEMA, the Coast Guard and the National Guard on the ground in three days.
So why did President Bush wait until the levees broke to act you might ask? Well, federal law forbids the federal government from acting on behalf of state authorities until requested by those same state authorities. Here is where the rubber meets the road.
President Bush called Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco twice, and asked if she would give him the authority to bring FEMA to her state. Twice Blanco refused. The Red Cross also asked Governor Blanco for her permission to get involved in rescue efforts. Again, Governor Blanco refused. It gets worse. Governor Blanco even turned down her own Louisiana National Guard from getting involved in rescue efforts.
Fox News reported that when the Red Cross was ready to deliver food, water and necessary life saving items like hygiene equipment after the flooding began, Blanco and her staff said “no”.
The precise words used by Blanco’s people is as follows, “Look, we do not want to create a magnet for more people to come to the Superdome or Convention Center, we want to get them out,” reported Fox News.
Now that is completely backwards. In a time of natural disaster, the very thing that the state officials of Louisiana should have done was draw more of its citizens to shelter, not turn them away.
Let’s contrast Blanco’s blank response with President Bush’s swift response. In just the first week after the Hurricane Katrina disaster, more than 32,000 people were rescued by the Coast Guard. Nearly 200,000 received food, medical care and shelter. The Army Corp of Engineers even repaired breached levees and pumped water out of the city of New Orleans. Remember, this was the first week after Hurricane Katrina hit land.
Unprecedented is right!
Contrast this with the Hurricane Floyd rescue efforts under Bill Clinton’s watch. Tens of thousands of people were left stranded for days all along the eastern seaboard of Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey. Hurricane Floyd weakened to a category 2 storm when it hit land. Katrina on the other hand was twice as severe when it hit land. Yet, the Bush administration responded much better to a storm twice as severe than the Clinton administration did to a storm half as severe.
What in the world was Governor Blanco thinking? Why did she fail to act? It seems the person at the helm of her homeland security department was none other than James Lee Witt. This is the same man who was Bill Clinton’s FEMA director during Hurricane Floyd. The same James Lee Witt who left tens of thousands of people stranded for days along the eastern seaboard. Are we beginning to see a pattern here?
James Lee Witt failed to deliver during Hurricane Floyd. James Lee Witt failed to deliver during Hurricane Katrina. It took G.W. Bush and his FEMA director, Michael Brown, to fix the mess left behind by Governor Blanco and James Lee Witt.
Oh, and Michael Brown, President Bush’s FEMA director? He responded to four previous Hurricanes with exceptional skill. Brown may have been a political appointee as far as Bush is concerned, but he grew into the position and performed exceptionally well.
In all, Louisiana was not left for dead by the G.W. Bush administration. Louisiana was left blank by Governor Blanco and her Knit-Witt state director of homeland security
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