[ASH...HOUSEWARES]

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT . . .

By Rena RF - Daily Kos - 31 August 2005

Dear Mr. President,

Like most Americans, I am watching the horror unfold in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Also like many Americans, I have felt a deep and strong pull to respond in any small way that I can. For me, it has been through fundraising and through getting the word out as to how people, good American people, can respond and lend even a small hand in helping deal with such a great tragedy.

The tragedy itself, though, says a great deal not only about the generous spirit of Americans but about you on two critical levels. The first would be on a leadership level, and the second would be on a human level.

They say that the measure of a great leader is gauged not by how he handles the 90 percent of events that are anticipated and expected, but by how he responds to the 10 percent that is utterly unforeseeable. Hurricane Katrina would fall into that rare, unforeseeable category - and your actions before, during, and now after this event are very telling of your leadership.

The devastation that continues to unfold and worsen in the hurricane's aftermath put me in mind of other disasters, man-made and otherwise. Most specifically, the specter of 9/11 came before me very clearly. The relief that poured in to New York City and northern Virginia following that tragic day were unprecedented. Events seemed to overwhelm reality and relief was poured into the areas affected. People knew where they could go for help. The infrastructure was in place to accommodate even the unforeseen. Frankly, I consider it nothing short of a miracle that things worked the way they did on 9/11. We were very lucky in that regard.

The relief coordination around Katrina has been abysmal. People don't know where to go. They don't know what to do. They have no information. No one can seem to agree on how to handle staunching the flow of water into New Orleans. The military is scrambling to assemble its assets effectively to provide the most basic of medical and sustenance needs. Don't mistake my tone - I have the greatest respect for the individuals who are risking their lives and safety to save the lives and secure the well being of survivors - but they are fighting an uphill battle because the coordination is simply criminal. The lives that will be saved in the coming days will be saved through the sheer power of human compassion carried by the individuals on the scene. The lives that could have been saved, yet will be lost, will be the price of terrible coordination. I lay that responsibility squarely at your feet.

Let me extrapolate somewhat and tell you that Katrina could have been any domestic disaster. The levees of New Orleans could have been compromised by a terrorist attack. A coordinated terrorist attack could have gone off in the Gulf region, yielding devastation on par with what Katrina wrought. Refineries and chemical plants in the region could have been attacked through terrorist methods. The list of possibilities is endless.

So I ask you - how is it that, in post-9/11 America, we are failing so completely to render aid and comfort? How is it that today, this last day of August 2005, nearly four years after 9/11, we have no cohesive plan to deal with the region's refugees, the potentially one million American citizens without work or a home or basic care? That speaks directly to your leadership, sir, and it doesn't speak well for it at all.

The decisions that you have made in your capacity as President and leader of the United States of America have real human costs and implications. The decision to go to war in Iraq has directly affected the response to this disaster in overt and subtle ways. The deployment of Guardsmen in Iraq has left the affected states with fewer resources at a time when they need them the most. The decision to go to war in Iraq and the lack of planning to deal with the aftermath of the war has directly affected the stability of oil prices, which in turn affects every American. A disaster such as Katrina further strains a system that, through bad policy, is already too volatile to accommodate additional trauma. The decision to institute tax cuts at a time when we, as a nation, should be planning for the worst-case scenarios of unexpected events has left cities and states and regions without the resources they need to effectively plan for and respond to disasters of any variety.

A certain component of the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina was unavoidable. But there is also a component that better leadership and some degree of forward-thinking would have prevented. Those deaths and tragedies should be laid at the foot of your short-sightedness and bad leadership. You should have to look at it. Perhaps it will be a reminder and you will act to prevent such things in the future.

I told you that I thought that this disaster said something about you on two levels and the second one is on a personal level. Your voice has been remarkably absent as the horror in the Gulf region has unfolded. Press clippings have shown you going about your planned events. You have given lip service to the devastation at certain points, but your actions speak louder than any words you can utter. A human response to this would have been to curtail matters of personal policy (stumping for support for the war in Iraq; the ghastly comparison of World War II with the war in Iraq; your baffling decision to do a photo opportunity with the Presidential guitar) and show an appropriate amount of respect for the lives being lost even as you plucked the strings.

Average Americans like me - who work for a living every day in this country - who don't have the luxury of a month-long vacation - took what little free time and disposable income we have and sprung into action. We raised money. We spread the word. We assembled information on what was needed and by whom and the best way to get it there. We felt - we watched our televisions and we cried at the tragedy we saw before us. Our response was so quintessentially human that your lack of it makes me wonder if we belong to the same human race.

So I'll leave you with this. A word image. You're in the dark, Mr. President. You can feel something pressing against the crown of your head - it's the roof of your attic. You're in water up to your neck. The water is filthy - you're surrounded by it - it's stiflingly hot in the little airspace you occupy. You're hungry and have nothing to eat. You're thirsty, dangerously dehydrated but you can't drink the very thing which may claim your life. Below you is everything you had. All your possessions - underwater. You don't know where your wife and children are and if they survived. You pray, Mr. President. Every time you hear what sounds like a boat or a helicopter you pray that someone will sense that you are under that roof needing help. You're too weak and too constrained by the space you occupy to signal for help. You have to wait, and as you wait, the water rises. If you're lucky, someone will find you. If you aren't, you'll die that slow, horrifying and frightening death. Alone.

Feel like playing us a tune now?

Respectfully,

Rena RF

[A$$A$$IN]

Hey lets use a horrible natural disaster that costs hundreds of lifes to further our political agenda and use this as yet another way to blame something on the president!


Seriously though, its people like this that make me sick. People cant get their own heads out of their asses enough to realize that this is not all mr. bush's fault. Does Louisiana not have a governor?...

"where in the hell was the City and the State's disaster plan? Where was their mobilization in the first hours after the break? It's not like these levees were built last spring and they hadn't had time to formulate a plan. You want to talk about leadership? All I saw out of Louisiana was a mayor doing his best Montel Williams impression and a governor having a complete meltdown and crying like a baby. Hell the mayor couldn't even keep his own police force on the job and motivated -- now that's leadership.

Even under the best of circumstances, it takes a couple of days to coordinate the federal response -- that's one of the reasons FEMA says everyone should have at least a 3 day survival kit at all times. In this case, we are dealing with 90,000 sqaure miles that have been declared a disaster area. Not to mention, very few roads left going into the areas.

I guess people think that Bush can just pull out his Harry Potter wand and teleport a couple tons of supplies onto Bourbon Street whenever he wants."

/endrant i was to lazy to write myself

[Horsepower]

definately written by a Democrat.

i don't want this to turn into something political, but i want to say this: people cannot rely on what the U.S. government and FEMA tell us after something like this happens. i can say that to you because out of the 4 hurricanes that hit Florida last year, i saw the response from FEMA for 3 of them. i heard the same lip service from our President, Governor and FEMA that the Katrina survivors are now(were) hearing. it's coming, it's coming.... i'm just glad i prepared and only had to rely on myself, not the government unlike many people who live around me.

here's a piece of advice from what i've learned last year. people must assume responsiblilty for their own well being after something like this happens. if you live in an area prone to hurricanes or other natural disasters, you need to have a supply of food and water for at least 5 days on hand at all times. that is how long it's probably going to take for assistance to arrive from our governmental bodies. don't wait, prepare now and avoid the lines and shortages.

if you're under a mandatory evacuation, don't be stupid, just leave. most of those people in New Orleans could have left and much of this abysmal government and FEMA response could have been avoided.

[toetag]

Originally Posted by Horsepower

people must assume responsiblilty for their own well being after something like this happens.

Yep. I agree.

Having been through 2 right front quadrents on lesser catagory storms last year, i feel i can speak with a small amount of expierience.

Had it not been for Horsepower, i would have had an even worse time than I did. I watched FEMA run the same BS they did last year. They are asked a direct question abd all they are trained to do is say they are doing this that and the other thing, but never accept responsibility.

There has been a lot of race talk going on in the news and I do not beleive that is the case. However, I will say that there is more than enough proof that ther is an economic class issue going on here.

FEMA and the Homeland Security need to be restructured.

This was the first time that our Homeland Security really went in to action out side of raising levels of security.

It has failed miserably. All of that money and sense of security they were giving us collapsed on a GRAND scale.

It should NEVER take 4 days to get water to a disaster area. Is is not 3 days that the human body can withstand not having water?

They did not deploy any of the naval ships until after the flooding was almost complete.

This is a country that i live in? All of that money went to something after 911. From what I can gather, this entire situation was reactive, no federal forethought at all.

Personally i think that the federal side of it, just wants to sign off 10 billion here and there, and not plan for human rescue missions or food distribution to trapped people.

I understand this is a natural disaster on a HUGE scale, but think just for a second. If a dirty nuke was dropped in an even larger city, what would we do?

Its a shame that we have been pumping money in to a theroy of mass safety, without proving its worth.

I say lose the homeland security, dump that money in to intel and the rest goes to restructuring FEMA, because if any kind of terrorist action takes place, it is apparent the it will become federal anyway and the army will move in. Give that pork over to fema so it can at least give us the feeling that the taxes we are going to pay actually can benifit the people of this country.

*****edit****
Also, yesterday was my daughters second birthday. I spent more money than i have ever done before because last year we spent her birthday in a hurricane shelter. That was the WORST place to go. No running water, no power, no working bathrooms, nothing. That was only for a couple of days. i can not imagine what it would be like to live in one of the poorest cities in the country and deal with looting, flooding, no water, no food and thousands of people in the same boat.

As a matter of fact, hurricanes was one of the reasons that i relocated to the north east. Not the main reason, but it was a major factor.

[ICEPICK]

Theres plenty of room for blame to go around the local/state/fed govt really blew it. However, its mighty amazing that the illegal work(Central/South Americans) force managed to get the hell out of NO when the mandatory evacs were ordered .......

[-=[TEK]=-Charlie]

well on msnbc last night a huricane researcher/whatever came on from LSU and was b&^@#ing down that one government group for not having the propersupplies for such a disaster. He has documented proof that when he talked to the white house LAST YEAR and told them what could happen if sumthing exactly like katrina came, well basicly they blew him off. he said that the government should start getting tents and buying bottled watter incase sumthing like this should happen. The women from the white house told him..."Americans theese days do not sleep in tents"...and basicly was telling him nothing like this could ever happen.