NewHampshire Black Bears said:
GWB, Missing in action.................................AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!
Very safe bet, if the Presidential election were held today, KERRY would be President.
Gasoline...........$3.00+
Iraq.................. STILL no "WMD"..............2000 DEAD
MSY........................Bush - MISSING IN ACTION !!!
NH/BB's
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I hadn't stopped by this forum for a while, but figured this type of post was destined to appear.
Let me make a couple of points:
1. Disaster management is the primary responsibility of state government. The US is a federal system in which powers not explicitly given the federal government or devolved to the states. I can recall no natural or man-made disaster where the federal government took a primary role in managing a disaster. The act in support of the state government and allocate resources accordingly. So, if you have a beef with the management of this event, the first person you should comment about is Blanco, who has been noticably absent over the past several days.
2. The Posse Comitatus Act restricts the us of federal assets within the domestic US. The initial believe was that the law restricted any use of military assets in the US as well as the US military to engage in law enforcement. Later, Posse Comitatus clarifications emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities, vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) can be provided. The role of law enforcement in extraordinary circumstances is given to the National Guard, which reports to the Governor. It is not clear to me if she (Blanco) asked for more resources from other governors and was declined, or never asked.
3. The exact strength of the storm and its direction was unclear until late Saturday. It's not clear to me whether it is feasible to move resources around in time to address the potential impact. So it can be conceivable that the resources were out of alignment.
4. Gasoline is still lower in real terms than it was in the 1980's. The fact that gas prices are high is a factor of increased global demand and lack of refining capavity in the US. The US refining capacity was running at 99% before Katrina. When Katrina took out 16% of US capacity, a price rise was going to occur. Its called supply and demand. Kennedy could be president and you would still have higher prices. And when the refining capacity returns, prices will still be high. Their are no new oil fields in the world and Americans love SUVs. Until demand goes down and refining capacity increases, the price will stay high. But neither is likely to happen because most Americans hate the idea of a refinery near them, so none will get built.
All in all, this looks like a pretty aweful sitaution. Blaming Bush is a pavlovian response of this forum given the membership is structurally anti-Republican and so see any action or event in partisan terms. What Katrina may show is that the current model of managing disasters, leaving Governors as leaders, may proof inappropriate. But that creates significant constitutional issues. But the facts on what occured will not be known for some time. I imagine that the more enlightened will wait before determing if any was "at fault". Maybe Blanco screwed up, maybe FEMA's plans were inadequate, maybe the nature of the disaster overwhelmed the planners or created unforeseen coordination issues. I don't know. But people like blackbear now all....I find that depressing and a bad sign for our future as a nation.
