His disregard for the poor (like in Katrina)?
Um, no. His FEMA appointee sucked, yes, but otherwise, he acted accordingly. He actually order the evactuation of Louisiana, 3 days ahead of time, to kathleen blanco's objections.
Nope. Nagin and Louisiana messed up. Why is it that Florida gets pounded by sometimes, multiple hurricanes almost every year and seem to hold their own? Because disaster relief is a local issue. It's your backyard, you know it best.
Are you supporting FEMA? Before the precedent of FEMA, the tradition was that relief aid was VERY unconstitutional. The reasoning was that the federal government should not be allowed to spend tax dollars to make improvements that benefited only a particular locality. Federal relief aid for the Johnstown Flood of 1889? Nada. The red Cross took care of that.
I remember an ABC news report days after Katrina where a (biased) reporter was asking opinions from people camping out at the superdome.
"Ma'am, do you personally hold Bush accountable for this disaster?"
"No, I blame Nagin, cuz he had no back up plan. He just tried to put us..."
"Sir, don't you think that bush could have done more to help the residents of New Orleans?"
"no, he's in DC. the mayor is here. He's supposed to know the city better..."
(Cut to commercial)
Yes, FEMA did mess up. But FEMA should not have been depended on as much as it should have. Taking care of Louisiana is a job for the people of Louisiana. And in all honesty, I don't believe in FEMA. And it certainly wasn't bush's fault. FEMA has always, always sucked. They also have a bunch of crazy, crazy powers during emergency times (which they are free to declare), like martial law and such.
From Cato,
Any time there is a natural disaster FEMA is trotted out as an example of how well government programs work. In reality, by using taxpayer dollars to provide disaster relief and subsidized insurance, FEMA itself encourages Americans to build in disaster-prone areas and makes the rest of us pick up the tab for those risk decisions. In a well-functioning private marketplace, individuals who chose to build houses in flood plains or hurricane zones would bear the cost of the increased risk through higher insurance premiums. FEMA's activities undermine that process. Americans should not be forced to pay the cost of rebuilding oceanfront summer homes. This $4 billion-a-year agency should be abolished.
Sometimes I think people can hate bush so much that they are ready to blame everything on him.
We can go even further. Bush is responsible for Global Warming. And Global Warming is responsible for Katrina. So Bush made Katrina. Then Bush decided that in the year after, 2006, there should be no major hurricanes. I guess Bush felt like being merciful to the residents of the Gulf, after giving them such a whipping the year before.
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mess with a president that can somehow control the weather, orchestrate a vast government conspiracy to knock down the WTC to jumpstart a few wars, and appear to be brainless at the same time.