Sardonic Scribe

Warning!

The facts will come out-

Uh oh, what is going to happen when the facts actually come out and we see exactly what happened in the 72 hours prior to Katrina striking the New Orleans area and Gulf Coast?

We have certainly witnessed no lack of blame being focused at the federal government and failings of the current administration and even the president himself. How can that be? Isn’t it the responsibility of the state and local government to address issues of evactuation and crisis management when facing a disaster of the magnitude of hurricane Katrina? What exactly did the mayor of New Orleans do in the 3 day period prior to Katrina’s strike to address the problems that he is so eager to blame George Bush for failing to address? How about the governor, Kathleen Blanco? What is her responsibility in crisis situations of this magnitude?

George Bush is a wonderful example of leadership but I seriously doubt that even his super powers could have prevented, altered the course of Katrina, or stopped the levee break in a single bound. Seriously, how much of the garbage that is being blamed on him really even his responsibility to begin with? What about the evacuation plan that New Orleans had, how was it implemented and by whom? What about the phone calls that George Bush made to the governor and mayor prior to Katrina’s strike imploring them to take immediate action, were they heeded?

After the rhetoric cools down and emotions subside and level heads begin to prevail devoid of posturing, finger pointing, and racial swipes, I believe we will continue to witness more of what makes us proud with regard to disaster response. As we are already witnessing, the fine people in this country and abroad are opening their wallets, their hearts, and even their homes to those who have become displaced, homeless, refugees. Instead of being white or black citizens, let us first be Americans, neighbors, and friends.

As I am sure you have all noticed by now, we are entreated to a non ending flood of criticism regarding the handling of the Katrina crisis along the US Gulf Coast. Ok, that seems fair enough but my question to all those who are parading in front of the tv cameras to condemn and malign our President and governmental agencies which are responding to the crisis is simply this, what would you have done or do that would be any different than what we are seeing now? It is incredibly easy to play armchair quarterback and espouse the wisdom of the sages to all who will listen when in fact most of the critics are as in the dark as the rest of us as to what should have, could have, been done and when.

Instead of criticism and disharmony would it not make a great deal more sense to unite and pull together to solve the crisis and continuing problems related to the devastation left in Katrina’s wake? Instead of venom and vitriole, would it not be more productive for our pundits and politicians to exert their energy towards words of encouragement and unity? Instead of taking every opportunity to malign and condemn the actions that have been taken so far?

In my humble opinion, offering solutions to the problems instead of contributing to the problem by creating more ill will and disunity would simply be much more productive.