Saturday, January 31, 2009

Heckuva Job There, Mr. President


Among the many things we were reassured about when the era of Hope and Change came to pass was that we would never again see something like what happened with Hurricane Katrina, where people would suffer for days in the aftermath of a storm. Now that the bungling, potentially racist cabal of Bushies who screwed the pooch are gone, it was going to all go much more smoothly.


So it's a bit odd to see this article, doncha think?



More than half a million homes and businesses, most of them in Kentucky, remained without electricity from the Ozarks through Appalachia, though temperatures creeping into the 40s helped a swarm of utility workers make headway. Finding fuel — heating oil along with gas for cars and generators — was another struggle for those trying to tough it out at home, with hospitals and other essential services getting priority over members of the public.

The addition of 3,000 soldiers and airmen makes 4,600 Guardsmen pressed into service. It's the largest call-up in Kentucky history, which Beshear called an appropriate response to a storm that cut power to more than 600,000 people, the state's largest outage on record. Many people in rural areas cannot get out of their driveways due to debris and have no phone service, the governor said.

By the way, Steve Beshear is the governor of Kentucky. So where the heck is FEMA? Sure doesn't look like they're much help, are they?


Okay. I know, it's not fair to blame Barack Obama for acts of nature. But what you can blame Barack Obama for is this: being part of the party that ridiculed the efforts of the Bush administration to provide services for the people on the Gulf Coast, and for putting snarky messages on the White House website about the response of the Bushies to Katrina:



“President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina,” the statement on the site continues. “Citing the Bush Administration’s ‘unconscionable ineptitude’ in responding to Hurricane Katrina, then-Senator Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims.”

Mr. President, there are over a million people without power in the heart of the country right now. It's cold out there. I'm certain that you are doing everything you can to help them. But it might be nice, round about now, to maybe walk back a little of the snark and the certitude that your website is flashing right now. I'm just sayin'.

4 comments:

W.B. Picklesworth said...

It's increasingly clear that our new president lacks class. It's not too late to start. Let's hope he tries to change his attitude.

Brad Carlson said...

Where's the conservative, white celebrity that'll come out and declare "Barack Obama does not care about white people."

Leo Pusateri said...

Where's the media frenzy? Where's the media outrage? Where's the endless parade of poor, disadvantaged Kentuckians, waiting desperately for Obama's help?

Mr. D said...

Where's the endless parade of poor, disadvantaged Kentuckians, waiting desperately for Obama's help?

They missed their photo opportunity, Leo. They are too busy cleaning things up.