In the latest incarnation of the
"blame game" it's the
governor who is to blame....and unfortunately, Gov. Blanco is helping...
Her failure? She didn't ask
precisely enough for federal troops to be sent in until the Wednesday after the storm. Carol Lin has the newest strategy to absolve Bush of blame. Gov. Blanco is admitting that she was not clear in her August 26 memo and her first call to Bush--says she didn't ask for the "40,000 troops" until Wednesday, while trying to say that when she initially asked for "everything you've got" in first phone call with Bush, she thought he understood that that is what she was asking for. This is disappointing in the sense that clearly Blanco is trying to be honest and forthright about the problems AT ALL LEVELS, she is forgetting who she is dealing with. The Bush administration is desperate for ANY lifeline at this point, and this will escalate (via their spin machine and echo chamber) into a full-scale campaign pinpointing the blame for all of the failures to be focused on Blanco's failure to TELL THE PRESIDENT that she wanted federal troops. The
clear failure here is Bush cutting funding for the levees in the first place because he was trying to cut the huge deficits his illegal war in Iraq and his tax cuts for the rich created. But, aside from that, When Bush issued his federal Emergency Order, he knew full well that federal troops would be needed to keep order once the storm passed. FEMA knew the federal troops would be needed, as well as resources of water, food, and security to disperse them, not to mention search and rescue. THESE failures of the federal government are no longer going to be addressed if Blanco allows the media to focus on her supposed "failure" to say clearly enough to Bush that she needed troops. Basically, it just begs the question: Did the President NOT KNOW THIS? If so, what does that say about this President's competence?
See the "miscommunication" link at
http://www.cnn.com/