Yes, more people should have evacuated if at all possible, though many had no cars or other ways out, or were incapacitated, and wow, who would have figured on that? Didn't any of the region's supposedly well-informed and trained public officials figure on trouble when they hastily decided to put these "everyone elses" in the Superdome? And where the hell were the Feds, with all their brainpower and resources? (Well, we know where George was.) Especially since one of the main concerns for New Orleans was that the levees would break and the city would flood? And water and electricity usually do go out when a hurricane passes through town -- lots of known variables here, and still no workable advance solutions. That's just wrong.
Well, it's easy to see in hindsight that the chaos in New Orleans might well have been prevented. But. We elect, hire, and pay for our public officials to have foresight. Oh, look, here comes a Category-5 hurricane that wrought havoc as a Cat-1 in Florida and now is knocking out oil rigs and drawing a bead on the Big Easy. Let's put our heads together and figure out a plan. (They should have had a plan before. But the storm still gave them fair warning.)
What a horrible situation for those thousands upon thousands of people stranded in the heat, the filth, the hunger and searing thirst, the chaos. And I just don't think it had to come to this.
Edited to add links to:
Ways to help:
American Red Cross
American Friends Service Committee
Liberal Blogosphere
The Humane Society
*Alert*: FEMA and some news outlets are directing potential donors to "Operation Blessing" -- which is chaired by Pat Robertson. You know, the guy who said we should assassinate Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Do what you want, but...
Pointed commentary:
"Look, I've seen the conservatives and the Sensible Liberals saying that this disaster shouldn't be politicized. In other words, we shouldn't talk about the decisions that were made beforehand regarding the levee system, and we shouldn't discuss the ways in which the commitment of funds and manpower to Iraq will affect recovery efforts, and we shouldn't discuss Bush's bizarre decision to spend a day giving canned stump speeches before heading back to D.C., and we shouldn't discuss the decisions that will be made in the days ahead--and I say, bullshit. Bush is clearly operating under no such constraint--he's obviously anticipating the criticism and trying to deflect it." -Tom Tomorrow, "This Modern World" (the blog)
"George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.... And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis." -"Waiting for a Leader," The New York Times
"If you condensed every single official duty of the President of the United States into a list of perhaps four or five things, taking responsibility and management of his or her own citizens' welfare would be one of them. And on that topic the President has... totally failed at this." -August J. Pollak
"I'm 62, I remember the riots in Watts, I remember the earthquake in San Francisco, I remember a lot of things--I have never, ever seen anything as badly bungled and poorly handled as this situation in New Orleans. Where the hell is the water for these people? Why can't sandwiches be dropped to those people in that Superdome down there? This is Thursday! This is Thursday! This storm happened five days ago. It's a disgrace, and don't think the world isn't watching. This is the government the taxpayers are paying for and it's fallen right flat on its face, in the way its handled this thing." -veteran newsman Jack Cafferty speaking on CNN (transcribed here among other places)
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