Never Apologise, Never Explain

Now the shock of the New Orleans disaster is subsiding, if not the water, the focus is now on how much worse the disaster has been because of the governmental response. This is not opportunist Bush-hating to score political points; the case against Bush makes itself without intervention from critics of the GOP.

Now Bush cowers in the White House and realises for the first time that he has enemies beyond the liberal media. In the past he has always known without a shadow of a doubt that he is Doing Good, with any and all criticism being from silly democrats playing in a pond too big for them. He is after all on a mission from god. So when an act of god destroys one of his cities, no wonder he is floundering like a fish on the river bank.

This sense of realisation is highlighted now that he has made enemies in the midst of his own supporters. Even his support in the right-wing section of the media is running its collective finger round its suddenly too tight collar. He cannot hide behind patriotism this time because this is a natural phenomenon occuring on his home turf, and there are no bogeymen to blame...except his own policy makers.

No, wait... He's found someone to blame. "Bush administration officials yesterday blamed state and local officials for the delays in bringing relief to New Orleans, as the president struggled to fend off the most serious political crisis of his presidency." -- The Guardian (source). This contrasts sharply with the stunning and powerful response by New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin in an interview with his local radio station, transcribed here.

The Guardian report also mentions that "Mr Bush was castigated for saying on Wednesday: "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees". It was pointed out that there had been a string of investigations and reports in recent years which had predicted the disaster almost exactly."

There have indeed been many reports. Such as the report from last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers that said "Human activity, directly or indirectly, has caused 1,500 square miles of natural coastal barriers to be eroded in the past 50 years. Human activity has clearly been a significant factor in coastal Louisiana land losses, along with subsidence, saltwater intrusion, storm events, barrier island degradation, and relative sea level changes," adding that "New Orleans and surrounding areas would now experience the full force of hurricanes, including storm surges that top levee systems and cause severe flooding as well as high winds".(source)

Ah, but one cannot hide from criticism forever. "The results are not acceptable," Bush said.

Yes, he's gone for stating the fucking obvious without accepting any blame whatsoever. Ye gods, even Tony Blair has managed an apology on this one. Bush has contributed nothing of benefit whatsoever to the aftermath, merely spent his time managing and protecting his political career. Meanwhile, people are still dying.

Truly unbelievable.