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It would be almost frivolous to write of anything but
Hurricane Katrina. For once it seems I am in agreement with most
major news organizations: Cindy Sheehan is finally off the front
pages of both papers I take and even the death of Chief Justice
William Rehnquist is below the fold.
That said, it is a blessing my deadline is not a minute
earlier. I am only livid today, down from seething yesterday and
flat-out apoplectic the day before. My question is still “Don’t
those people ever quit?” but today I can see “those people” are not
America; they are just a rancid little slice, grandstanding
opportunists who survey the corpses of New Orleans and see a
soapbox.
I’ll get to them, but first a few words about real
Americans. People like Charlie, a friend of mine who is a cook and
former emergency medical technician, seeking a sabbatical to
volunteer at a Red Cross relief center in Texas. Folks like Scott
and Carrie, a twenty-something couple in my church who are en route
to Mississippi to volunteer with Samaritan’s Purse. And people like
the millions who have opened their hearts and wallets so wide that
donations are exceeding those for Southeast Asia tsunami relief and
September 11 victims at the same points after those tragedies.
Less productive citizens are engaged in the time-honored
tradition of covering their own fannies, though I separate them from
the true ghouls. People like New Orleans’ mayor, who railed about
the slow federal response yet did not direct the use of the city’s
busses for evacuation efforts, an action specifically authorized by
Louisiana law. Instead, hundreds of buses sit flooded and thousands
of people were unnecessarily stranded. The feds might have arrived
quicker but the buses were already there.
The New Orleans police force has had over 200
resignations since Katrina according to the New York Times, out of a
force of 1,500. Contrast that with New York police and firefighters
on September 11, who selflessly ran into buildings that were about
to collapse, and one might reasonably question what kind of standard
the mayor set for his public safety employees. Public safety starts
with qualified cops, not patronage hires.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has complained about
the National Guard’s response – which, in the state of Louisiana,
she herself commands. As to help from other states, Associated
Press says they were ready. The Michigan National Guard, for
instance, started preparing immediately but wasn’t contacted by Ms.
Blanco for several days. “We could have had people on the road
Tuesday (after the levees broke),” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Cutler. “We
have to wait and respond to their need.”
My greatest contempt, however, is reserved for the
political looters who are busy scavenging the misery of others for
political gain. Like Jesse Jackson, who told CBS News race was “at
least a factor” in what he considers a slow response by the Bush
administration. And Rep. Elijah Cummings, D- Md., who told CNN “I’m
not sure” if racism is responsible for disaster response issues,
then coyly added “All I know is that a number of the faces that I
saw were African-American,” which should be no surprise since New
Orleans’ population is two-thirds African American.
Then there is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is in a
classless class by himself: Kennedy claimed on HuffingtonPost.com
that Mississippi governor Haley Barbour is personally responsible
for the hurricane itself due to his opposition the Kyoto
environmental treaty.
In a disaster of this unimaginable scope, failures are
inevitable at all levels. There will be plenty of blame to go
around when there’s time for it but in a less decent country this
hateful nonsense might have brought volunteers and donations to a
halt. Fortunately, a nation is greater than the sum of its
politicians.
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