Spring Break
Bush Takes Responsibility For Disaster
Nicholas Frazee
Issue date: 9/23/05 Section: Commentary
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina is undoubtedly one of the greatest natural catastrophes to hit the United States in the last 100 years. The death toll from the storm is steadily climbing as the searches continue and a stream of tens of thousands of survivors has been evacuated with nowhere to go and little to support themselves. An entire city is nothing more than a waterlogged crater.
However, the greatest disaster was preventable - our federal government's response to Katrina and its aftermath. With arguably the most technologically advanced system of disaster relief and certainly the most well-funded branches of government to deal with national emergencies, the United States made the disaster a gross calamity. However, in a bold move President George W. Bush took responsibility as the head of the government. On Tuesday he publicly said, "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."
By accepting responsibility for the failures of the federal effort, Bush has taken the first and hardest step toward recovery. Some may brush it aside - as some editorials have - as a grand staging, a political move to salvage his falling approval numbers. Still, for the head of a characteristically self-righteous administration to step forward and assume responsibility for the continuing catastrophe is a step of self-effacement. He knows it puts him on the spit. Could you imagine Karl Rove trying to convince Bush this admittance will actually brighten his political picture? "Trust me Mr. President, by the time we're back at the ranch, your rating will be back in the 50s. Seriously."
Some may argue Bush's acceptance of fault is worth nothing more than its face value, insisting he must fly down to Louisiana and help with the effort in person to prove his repentance. Unfortunately, Bush's help would be detrimental because time away from his other duties would beleaguer the already backlogged administration. His administration is mired in the ongoing convolutions of the Iraq war, the burgeoning dominance of Iran's nuclear relevance and the diplomatic quagmire concerning North Korea's nuclear aspirations. It is difficult to comprehend how exactly any administration could juggle all these concerns at the same time.
However, the greatest disaster was preventable - our federal government's response to Katrina and its aftermath. With arguably the most technologically advanced system of disaster relief and certainly the most well-funded branches of government to deal with national emergencies, the United States made the disaster a gross calamity. However, in a bold move President George W. Bush took responsibility as the head of the government. On Tuesday he publicly said, "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."
By accepting responsibility for the failures of the federal effort, Bush has taken the first and hardest step toward recovery. Some may brush it aside - as some editorials have - as a grand staging, a political move to salvage his falling approval numbers. Still, for the head of a characteristically self-righteous administration to step forward and assume responsibility for the continuing catastrophe is a step of self-effacement. He knows it puts him on the spit. Could you imagine Karl Rove trying to convince Bush this admittance will actually brighten his political picture? "Trust me Mr. President, by the time we're back at the ranch, your rating will be back in the 50s. Seriously."
Some may argue Bush's acceptance of fault is worth nothing more than its face value, insisting he must fly down to Louisiana and help with the effort in person to prove his repentance. Unfortunately, Bush's help would be detrimental because time away from his other duties would beleaguer the already backlogged administration. His administration is mired in the ongoing convolutions of the Iraq war, the burgeoning dominance of Iran's nuclear relevance and the diplomatic quagmire concerning North Korea's nuclear aspirations. It is difficult to comprehend how exactly any administration could juggle all these concerns at the same time.