They could really use lots of water -- and less wind to fight the raging wildfires in Southern California.Hurricane Katrina has many legacies for the Bush White House, none pleasant. One is the guarantee that as soon as disaster strikes in the United States, President Bush's every move is closely scrutinized to gauge the speed and tone of his response.
On Tuesday, while he had no water saved, Bush declared a federal emergency and his administration said lessons were learned from Katrina. The President will be in Southern California today. Residents, hoping the wind will die down, no doubt hope the President brings more than "hot air" with him.
Linked is the AP's story on the lessons and the legacy Katrina has left on the federal government:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21453908/
The fires in Southern California give us that opportunity to assess just what exactly they have learned.
After Katrina, the Bush administration was criticized for its slow response. The fires in Southern California brought an immediate government response. Over 250,000 have already been evacuated. No hesitation this time.
After Katrina, the Bush administration was criticized for mishandling the role played by the federal and state agencies involved. FEMA was embarrassed in New Orleans. This time they appear to have been charged with delivering quick relief and they have. Today, intergovernmental cooperation appears to be smoother.
After Katrina, the Bush administration was criticized for not giving the personal attention expected when crisis hits. The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the President, have offered the personal gestures now expected.
While fighting the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s talked about the three Rs of government – relief, recovery and reform. As the wild fires rage this week all three Rs can be found on the ground in Southern California.
Maybe over time lessons can be learned.
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Or maybe not. Linked here is the story of how the fires came after the State of California had declared the end of fire season, and laid off seasonal firefighters. This year the fire didn't get the message and the State was scrambling to call all available fire personel back.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21443093/
4 comments:
I agree with the assessment that lessons are being learned. At least this time the FEMA chief isn't a horse trader. I never liked that idea. However, I must also point out that a number of failures happen at the state level as well as the federal level when it comes to disaster assistance. You can have a longtime FEMA chief in the White House, a bunch of former firefighters in Congress, and SAR veterans running FEMA, and that still won't do you a whole lot of good if the state EMAs are lying down on the job, as Louisiana certainly was in 2005, and California was this year. People aren't perfect. If you truly want lessons to be learned, they must be learned at every level of government, not just federal. I'm not saying we never learn from our mistakes, I'm just saying no matter how good the people involved are, something is going to go wrong.
I am glad to see that Mr. Wolak did not add the racial factor into this article, which the media has not failed to point out. I believe that the Bush administration truly learned how to handle disaster situations and this has absolutely nothing to do with race. The government now understands that the people want a quicker response to disaster, and even though it is very difficult to provide all of the help needed, the government needs to do its best to at least show that they care and are trying to help the people. So far, I think the government has improved its response to a disaster and overall, the people of California agree. I am just waiting for Jesse Jackson to jump on the media bandwagon and turn this into a racial issue.
Into the frying pan!!!!!
While of course the Bush administration is trying to avoid the political disaster that ignoring another natural disaster would pose, I still think race plays a role in this. San Diego is a county full of very, very wealthy white people. Their area has extensive resources to deal with emergencies. New Orleans had nothing, because all of its inhabitants were poor. I don't think we can ignore the fact that San Diego county is rich, and white, and New Orleans is poor, and black. It says something about the distibution of wealth in our country and how that distribution correlates to race.
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