First in May, when a Cessna entered DC airspace unannounced, it required military escort and decision-making, and the evacuation of Congress and the White House.
Nevertheless, the President was only informed nearly an hour
after the rest of us, who were following the plane's course (that is, after the plane left restricted airspace).
Now this week, in a regional disaster, almost nothing gets deployed for 5 days.
In fact, greater assistance to La. was blocked, discouraged, and declined (See Mayor Daley's initiative last Sunday to send 100s of firefighter, medical assist and police personnel. FEMA told Daley No, and so far has accepted a single truck from Chicago, as of Friday.)
Now here's what a President with command and control could do right at the start:
HE WOULD Ask/decide -- WHAT do we have for New Orleans? Transport. Water. MREs. Move it there - now!
HE WOULD Ask/decide -- What DON'T we have? What's not happening. Power, communications, transport, water. Move it, Deploy it, get it there. Buses ---> There. Convoys. Radios.
I will present a scenario.
Michael Chertoff announced today that this situation was "unprecedented" and that it involved 2 disasters: hurricane, and flooding. (Well, I would remark that flooding following a hurricane is
not an illogical consequence.) For too many days, almost everything that was started was initiated locally. (Exception: the Coast Guard geared up more quickly than other federally chartered emergency missions.)
Back now to a command-and-control president (if only we had one). . .
What became clear to the entire nation immediately, and certainly by Monday, were that many thousands of people were left behind, stranded, cut off from homes, food, plumbing and even phones.
Here's the response, here are the orders (of a president) on Monday and Tuesday – in my scenario.
- With people cut off from access to the necessities to live, probably for days and weeks – WE NEED transport, to remove these people and get them to safety. SEND in buses, caravans, drivers. We need civilians, or guardsmen, or neighboring state drivers.
- BRING IN the water, and MREs (meals ready to eat) with the caravan, or bring them to the city in parallel. Can we air drop them, can we lower them by helicopters. Nat Guard choppers, army choppers, some of the Coast Guard choppers. Texas state government choppers.
- The water and MREs are needed immediately. The buses must be on their way now, the first day that the storm exits. Send the dispatchers and drivers info about the driest intact route.
- Communications have failed. We have no phones. BRING in specialty radios, battery supply.
- Almost every sector in New Orleans is without power. Unload the generators, also start bringing in a fuel supply.
- As the floods stabilize and the days wear on, looting for gain will become a greater problem. Take some of the guardsmen, and divert a portion of them from distribution and transport to patrol and law enforcement.
CAN YOU IMAGINE if the President had done that Monday and Tuesday, from Crawford or wherever?
If someone under him could do that, that's ok too. But Bush could have been hands on, and I don't mean so-called (spin) 'hands on' in a Cabinet motivational meeting, I mean barking orders and getting on the horn if something is falling thru the cracks.
This doesn't take hindsight. It doesn't take brilliance. It takes a man or woman (and staff) who doesn't freeze, as if caught in headlights, during a catastrophe or a massive challenge.
And where is Dick Cheney? Shouldn't the WH tell us what's up with him?
So I wonder, does the President have no command and control, or does he just not have a clue? Can he comprehend, or does it take days to sink in.
He and the people under him are incompetent.
They are too ideological to give the country what it needs. The people in charge want to limit government, limit our ability to rely on government, and use the courts + newly installed judges to constrain the federal system.
I repeat, they are too ideological to give the country what it needs and what it pays for.