I'm going to bypass the
well documented policy decisions that lead to the crisis in the Big Easy and focus on what a real American president would have been doing since Tuesday morning (at the latest).
-A real American president would have asked every citizen in the surrounding areas to open their community's VFW halls, church centers, labor halls, community centers and high school gymnasiums and to fill these locations with warm cooked food, water, mattress, blankets and clothing, and to embrace these souls as though they are part of their immediate family and remember they're all members of the American family.
-A real American president would have asked every ambulance technician, nurse, doctor, medical student, and every retired medical practitioner in regions not affected to request a week's vacation time and to go to their closest Red Cross station to register for citizen service to begin like yesterday.
-A real American president would have asked the American people for the next few weeks to put the SUV away and use public transportation, carpools, fuel efficient vehicles and to walk when they can.
-A real American president would have asked every person with a boat, pontoon and helicopter to register with their local National Guard station and go down there and help immediately. An armada of citizens should have been compelled to come down the Mississippi and in through the Atlantic to help these desperate people.
-A real American president would have asked all the major chain industries in the disaster area to issue statements offering all the goods in the stores to the displaced citizens (it's all insured anyway).
-A real American president would have asked every able body person, those with and without construction experience, to register with aid organizations to eventually head down to the Gulf to help rebuild these communities.
-A real American president would have stated that he'd spoken with all the heads of the major oil industries and made them aware of the government's zero tolerance policy for price gouging.
-A real American president would have made an unconditional financial commitment to rebuild this great American treasure in a manner that protects it from these types of disasters in the future, and announced a panel of the world's best urban planners and engineers ready to assist Mayor Nagin at the appropriate time.
-A real American president would have cut his fucking vacation short a week ago to make sure that all operations were running smoothly in the got damn capital and called Congress' fat ass back into session the day the levee fucking broke to give FEMA the authority and resources it needed to save lives.