Gov’t fulfills few Katrina promises
Who’s to blame for Katrina’s aftermath?
Almost a year ago, with much of New Orleans still submerged and uninhabitable, Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader stood under the glare of klieg lights in Jackson Square, promising to “do what it takes” to rebuild New Orleans and get the city back on its feet. Well, guess what? Here it is almost a year to the day after Katrina unleashed her wrath upon Louisiana, MIssissippi, and parts of Alabama…and that promises appears to have been forgotten as soon as the lights were doused. I know; you’re probably all as shocked as I am, but there it is. A Republican President making promises on national television and then, almost as soon as the klieg lights are turned off, moving on to the next photo op and wiping his memory banks clean. Whodathunkit?
Over the past year, much has gone wrong, and there is plenty of blame and recrimination to go around. Sadly, much of what has gone right occurred at the local level, like Bill White, Harris Country, and the City of Houston moving to make the Astrodome available and to smooth the way for the thousands of Louisiana refugees that poured into this area. Not that there was really much of an option available to them, but Bill White and the thousands of other local officials and volunteers who gave of themselves to provide a temporary home and a sense of stability to thousands of people suddenly made homeless deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. That Houston has been repaid with an upward surge in the crime rate seems unfortunate, but there’s never a wrong way to do the right thing.
In looking back, however, there is much that went wrong. If we’re to be honest, we should be laying the blame where it belongs, and there is plenty to spread around:
EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE: Man, can you say “rife with potential for misuse and corruption”? I’ll bet you can. From the debit cards to housing vouchers, an absolutely OBSCENE amount of taxpayer money was wasted. Yes, most of it was used for its intended purpose, and there were very unusual and trying circumstances. Nonetheless, the Government Accountability Office estimates that FEMA wasted between $600 million and $1.4 billion. THIS is why it’s called the Federal Emergency MANAGEMENT Agency? Yikes….
CLEANUP: No, the job isn’t done, and no reasonable person could expect a job of that size to be completed in less than a year. Still, you have to wonder: if were were talking about the Hamptons instead of New Orleans, could we reasonably assume that a good deal more would have been done? I don’t think I need to spell out the answer to that question for you…do I??
HOUSING: A year later, thousands are still living in FEMA trailers. Thousands more are still in limbo, and FEMA’s “Yes, we’ll pay for it…no, we won’t…yes we will” policies have created much anger, hardship, and recrimination in Houston and along the Gulf Coast in general. Gee, if I didn’t know better (?!?), I’d say that FEMA’s decision-making processes have involved sticking a finger in the air to test the political winds. ‘Course, FEMA would never play politics with relief efforts…would they??
REBUILDING: This is where the rubber hits the road, and it’s where FEMA, and indeed the rest of the federal government, has exposed itself to charges of favoritism and- dare I say it?- racism. Despite Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader’s September promise in Jackson Square, the money for rebuilding has been slow to come…when it has come at all. To make matters worse, federal policies open the government to charges of de facto racism for their reluctance to fund rebuilbing efforts in more flood-prone areas such as the Ninth Ward.
LEVEES: This is perhaps the most contentious subject of all, but at least the federal government hasn’t broken any promises in this regard. Then again, they haven’t made any promises, either. Denny Hastert has made it clear that he doesn’t think rebuilding a city like New Orleans, which is largely below sea level, is a wise use of federal dollars. That most of the resident of New Orleans are poor, African-American, and (most importantly) don’t vote Republican might have something to do with this, eh? Again…I wonder what would be happening if we were talking about the Hamptons?? Draw your own conclusions….
POVERTY: Of course, the Gulf Coast is by and large a poor, rural…and not always very Republican-friendly region- New Orleans in particular. To much of his Conservative, “I-got-mine-you-get-your-own” base, assistance to the Gulf Coast feels like just one big handout. The question becomes, then: Is it our job to pick them up? Should our tax dollars be spent on those who lived in poverty and paid little in the way of taxes prior to Katrina? And can I still get that tax break for buying a new Hummer?
Almost exactly a year later, and much remains to be done. NO, FEMA and the federal government’s efforts haven’t been a complete failure. No reasonable person would expect Humpty Dumpty to be put back together a mere year after a disaster of the size and scope of Katrina. Nonetheless, it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to come to the conclusion that most of the promises made by Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader have gone unfulfilled, and in fact will likely remain that way. In an election year, this is simply not an issue that is going to motivate the Republican base. Nationwide, Katrina is so last year…that is, everywhere except here along the Gulf Coast. Sadly, the Republicans are so heavily involved in trying to ensure their own continued political survival by scaring the piss out of the American sheeple that any talk of Katrina is just that.
Of course, things WOULD be different if we were talking about the Hamptons, wouldn’t they??
WE DESERVE BETTER.
