It's time for the American People to hold this President accountable for something. It's time that we, like Cindy Sheehan did in Crawford, dog this President's every move and make him cringe every time he wakes up and looks out any window.
Because right now, I follow both STOP George and ColdFusion04, in that I don't believe I have a president anymore and the only leaders left this country are us, ordinary people.
It's amazing that when America was under attack, by either human action or nature herself, Bush did the same exact thing with Katrina that he did on 9/11 - he waited. And then, he ran, as far away as he could, from the problem, hoping it would go away. Never in my wildest dreams would I think a politician like Bush, in a crisis like Katrina, would have the unsuspecting gall to appear in a photo op that would give a whole new meaning to the phrase "Let them eat cake." Never ever would I think that a politician like Bush would do that, and then on top of that give the appearance of Nero while men, women and children die and/or lose everything they had.
The pessimism I'm getting from most folks is heartbreaking, but I can't argue against it. It is sheer outrage fatigue - outrage at how things are going in this life, outrage that nothing is being done to make them better, outrage that we have no person outside ourselves to look up to. And I'm starting to get that same feeling myself.
To quote Steve Gilliard, "The New Orleans of Marti Graz and Jazz and Heritage is gone, forever." I know some folks that may not think much about the Jazz & Heritage portion of it, but I know they give a damn about Marti Graz. New Orleans is a culture melting pot unlike any other city in this nation. Regardless how one feels about it, whether the crime was harsh or the city was way too dirty, there was a rich history that followed that city. And now, it looks like all we have left is that.
Pardon my French (no pun intended), but folks like Kevin Drum who spew opinions like this can kiss my ass. It is that same attitude that breeds the pessimism from the belief that there is no real leadership. It is that same attitude that the Beltway Democrats have that make us want to puke. It is that same attitude that, according to the American people (75% of Democrats and 60% of independents, specifically), the Democrats in Congress should not have.
It is not my intention to divide here - it is to simply point out that while NOLA was drowning, our president was strumming, and we must call him out on his failed leadership. Clinton would have been (rightly) tarred, feathered, and dropped in the flood waters if he had the nerve to do a photo op with his sax during this time of national crisis. When are we going to do the same to Bush?
Like it or not, he deserves this ridicule. He deserves our anger towards him. He deserves our emotional punches and political attacks on his character and ability as President of the United States because, contrary to popular belief, he works for us! And less than 10 months into his second term, he has failed miserably - no, he has failed catastrophically.
On 9/11, we were caught by surprise, and rallied around the President because we needed someone and something to believe in. Now, we were caught by surprise by Katrina, but unless the polls tell me otherwise, I believe we, the majority of Americans, have wised up, and realized that the only people we could rally around and depend upon are each other.
The President, with his photo ops, proved that we can't rally around him, not anymore. We cannot look up to him to lead us, not anymore. We cannot rely on what he thinks we should do or what he knows best to do, not anymore. We cannot depend upon him to do what real Presidents need to do, not anymore.
Presidents, real leaders, assert themselves, take charge, and guide us in times of crisis so that we all, all of us, can rise out of the rubble.
Bush instead strummed his guitar.
