The Blame Game
I have some serious questions of propriety over whether or not it is too early to start playing the blame game in the aftermath of Katrina (“who screwed up the rescue/evacuation efforts?”). Seems to me that there will be plenty of time for that. Still, in our politically-charged “make political hay while the sun shines” 2005 America, it’s not surprising that we’re hearing all sorts of irresponsible charges thrown around. Kanye West (apparently, the hottest thing in rap “music” today) earned the label of race-baiting simpleton with his own comments, and there are plenty of flaming hotheads spewing their own verbiage around the landscape of blame. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, predictably, had as their headline yesterday “How the Feds Failed in New Orleans” (something like that; I’m going from memory); I say “predictably” because liberals, such as those who run the PG, tend to look first to the federal government as our savior, the fixer of all our problems. Then, when the federal government doesn’t perform up to the liberal’s standards, it is to blame.
Now, I’ll go on record as saying that my best guess is, when we sort all of this out and an accounting is given (if it is), there’ll be some blame to go around on all levels. Here, though, is a piece which provides a bit of balance to the “slam Bush” rhetorice that might seem to be carrying the day:
AFTER THE STORM: Blame Amid the Tragedy
A tip of the Wahoos cap to my sister and brother-in-law, Connie and Tim Gault, currently proudly serving our country as a Marine chaplain in Iwakuni, Japan, for providing this link.
Here’s Deroy Murdock’s take, on the ridiculous assertions of racism:
And Peter Ferrara’s take:
The Left’s False Assault on President Bush
Look, were there things that Bush and the feds could/should have done better? Probably, and Mike Brown apparently is pretty inept, and deserved replacement. But those screaming loudest for federal heads to roll might do well (assuming that they’re concerned with truth—ahem…) to redirect their thinking to that parked lot of buses sitting in New Orleans idle, to a governor who failed in her duty, etc. For now, though, why don’t we keep concerning ourselves with helping the folks who need to be helped, and making wise decisions about the future of New Orleans—and not just emotionally-charged ones.
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
4 Responses to “The Blame Game”
At this point I do believe FEMA Chief Michael Brown’s cojones ARE in the president’s desk drawer. While I would agree there is plenty of blame to go around for the slow initial response to the devastation of Katrina, I find it absolutely shameless and despicable that anyone would try to capitalize for political gain on what is clearly the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.
Don ~ Sep 12, 2005 at 5:23 pm
Shameless? Yep. Despicable? Sure. Surprising? Not by a long shot…
Byron ~ Sep 12, 2005 at 6:12 pm
You’re right… it’s easy to blame when it’s much harder to join arms and get stronger. Perhaps the pain of the moment causes us to recoil instead of stand firm.
Tony Myles ~ Sep 13, 2005 at 10:22 am
I’m waiting for Mike Moore to tell me who’s at fault. Perhaps he’ll have some footage of Bush kicking down the levees.
youngbyers ~ Sep 13, 2005 at 9:25 pm