Not a mention, not even a word.
In last night’s State of the Union address, President Bush talked about all manner of subjects, but he didn’t have a thing to say regarding the devastated Gulf Coast region or the slow pace of recovery in New Orleans.
I’m not really surprised. It’s kind of like getting kicked in the teeth in slow motion. You see the boot coming toward your face, you know it’s going to hurt, and there’s nothing you can do. You’re already lying on the barroom floor, beaten to a bloody pulp, so one more kick in the teeth doesn’t even really matter. It doesn’t even hurt anymore. It’s more disappointing than anything else.
Ever since the Federal Flood, New Orleanians have suffered a feeling of abandonment that would be almost paranoid if it weren’t so true. In the sixteen months since, we’ve seen a steady flow of volunteers coming to help, so we know there are plenty of Americans who haven’t forgotten. But last night’s speech made it clear that the President would very much like to forget about us. We are an embarrassment to his administration.
A quarter of a million people are still displaced by this disaster, and the President doesn’t say one word about it? Shame on you, President Bush. Your people are suffering. Words in a speech wouldn’t help put people back in their homes, but saying nothing is both demoralizing and immoral.
Discover more from b.rox
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Bush doesn’t mention it, period. The Democrats are making only passing mention of Katrina, paying lip service to the issue, at least so far. Closer to home, there continues to be a vacuum of leadership. The most recent case in point: Mississippi scores the big legal coup with State Farm, and ultimately other carriers, in the wind vs. water controversy. Meanwhile, no such settlement is being pursued in Louisiana. My question is simple: why not?
You got it all wrong… It wasn’t the “State of the Union” speech, it was the “State of the Union Minus the Gulf Coast Address.” We’re not part of the Union anymore. The Constitution states they want a more perfect Union, and our area is blemish riddled. He just chose not to discuss that nasty detail… I mean… kids are watching.
It’s hard bringing dignity back to the White House, but with Baby Einstein’s help we can usher in a new generation of qualified governance and high yield investments.
Keep your head up, you’re my hero….pressure makes diamonds
We know we have a more perfect union thanks to Ms. Baby Einstein, right? Your right on all points there B. You can almost compare rebuilding NO and the gulf region as reconstruction after the civil war.
I have long thought that Bush’s behavior mimicked that of the abusive partner, his “stay on the offense” tactic strongly resembling the classic verbal abuser’s “divert and attack” response to being caught red handed. The next step in the twisted mind of the abuser would be to vilify the victim, to blame the source of the guilt, thereby assuaging his own haunted conscience, preserving his delusions of rectitude. He doesn’t mention ya’ll ’cause he can’t bear to think of you. He’s evil.
Bush isn’t evil. We’ve never had an “evil” president. Flawed presidents are a dime a dozen. So are bad ones and weak-willed ones. But I truly refuse to believe that any of these humans we’ve called president have been evil.
It’s kind of like calling people we disagree with “fascists” or “Nazis.” It diminishes the power of those words so that when one really comes along, we’ve cried wolf for so long that we don’t even recognize it any more.
(This post really isn’t a troll, though I doubt that will stay the usual and inevitable Chimpy McHitler nonsense.)
I probably disagree with 90% of the politics presented around here, but that doesn’t make me evil, nor do I believe that anyone here is likewise evil.
But what is really the heart of the matter is this: there are things the govt should be doing and things the govt is actually capable of doing. I think we agree on the latter half a lot more than the former.
“The past has baked my loaf, and in the strength of the bread I break up the old oven.” –Emerson
I’m no expert, Garvey, but my gut tells me that raiding the nation’s treasury to fill the pockets of its richest citizens while millions go without access to basic medical care and wasting the blood of brave soldiers to raise the bottom lines of war profiteering cronies is pretty evil. Then there’s the Constitution, or what’s left of it. Of course, standing idly by and doing nothing for five days, knowing that people were dying without food or water or hope of rescue, all by itself might qualify. I don’t think it’s melodramatic. I didn’t call him a facist or a Nazi or compare him to Hitler. I called him evil, in the manner of an abuser. I stand by that.
Sophmom, I lived with an abuser and you are so right.
Thanks, saltyC. My understanding was also hard won.
It’s precisely your conspiracy theories and misunderstanding of basic economics which will always keep you and those like you marginalized, Sophmom.
I predicted that the tinfoil hats would come out, and they have.
Tax cuts for the rich, from that bastion of radical conservatism, Slate:
http://www.slate.com/id/2108201/
[…] And yet it is good to be remembered, unlike last year. […]