The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 8/21/8
As President Bush gave his upbeat take on the Coast’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday, he must somewhere deep inside wonder how he got into such a fix – or how it all went so wrong.
From the very first, the storm was a nightmare for his presidency, starting with his ignoring the reports in Crawford, Texas, that a potentially devastating storm was heading for the Gulf Coast.
A later video tape of his being briefed about the storm contradicted his assertions that he knew nothing about it.
Then, there was the storm hitting, and his people who were charged with handling the emergency couldn’t even decide the extent of the damage – even denying the levee at New Orleans had been breached, while news crews showed live footage of water streaming into the 9th Ward.
Then, there was the aftermath, when Mississippians were struggling without food, water, basics. And the most Bush could do was a “flyover” and praise “Brownie,” the Federal Emergency Management Agency chief who was as clueless about the extent of the damage as his agency was inept.
Magnolia Tribune
