These premises make no sense to me, that people need to have POTUS see this in person, or that POTUS himself needs to see it beyond what can be seen on TV or what people who have been there have told him. He’s the president, not a miracle worker.
Exactly it’s not as if he’ll turn the contaminated water into wine or make loaves of bread magically appear. The people in NO need food, water, medical treatment, and a way out of a city, they don’t need to do a meet & greet with a politician.
Yeah, where’s Jesus when you need him? The whole walking-on-water and feeding-of-the-five-thousand things could come in real handy right now. Not so sure about the water-into-wine trick though. Screw Bush visiting, we need Jesus!
No, he got shit right off the bat, within 1 or 2 days. Soldiers were dying beneath the waves, and he was by the sunny seaside. He stayed on vacation when he should have been somehow overseeing the disaster. Hurt his “man of action” image. You’re talking about the fallout after several days, during what developed into part information blackout and part spin frenzy from the Kremlin and the military. See, the military was lying to everyone about pretty much everything, and the ones in the know were well aware that the crew was probably already long dead. And, truth be told, none of the confusing “information” coming from high up was really Putin’s fault either. He probably had no idea how serious the situation was until the PR damage was severe, because it’s common in what’s left of the Soviet military to kill the messenger, figuratively speaking. His initial response on camera to questions was to sort of smile, shrug, and say “I guess it sunk”, or something to that effect. Drove the public and the press rabid. Putin’s too shrewd for a gaffe like that, if he were properly appraised of the situation.
End hijack.
Why don’t they spend the money they would spend on a trip to let this person have a photo op to get those people out?
The president’s tour of New Orleans will cause little disruption to the rescue effort. He’ll almost certainly fly over the city in the Marine One helicopter, which is probably armored to withstand anything short of an anti-aircraft missle. As well as being the safest way for him to see the destruction, it’s also the most practical way. With 80% of the city flooded, trying to visit to by car would be a pointless exercise.
And yes, he has to do this. It’ll go a long way towards helping people feel that their government is trying to help. It’s all psychological, but it’s important nonetheless.
There is no “handle” here. I’ve been within 10 feet of a POTUS three times in my life ( once leaning against the French Doors of the Oval Office as I videotaped him) and I am here to tell you that nothing happens without 100% control of the environment. According to first-person interview given on CNN today from inside a room at the Ritz-Carlton, the police in NO are incapable of coordinating right now in ANY WAY- their communications systems are zero. Nil. Nothing. Apparently groups of cops who are finding each other are trying to find places to sleep and work as small groups, doing what they can. There is no policing infrastructure. The Ritz-Carlton management has basically paid off-duty cops to guard the doors to the building with their shotguns. Again, this comes from a woman who is trapped in there who has seen this with her eyes for the last few days. The guests in there are secured because of hired guns ( literally ). There has been no sign in any way of Police, National Guard, State Troopers and the like. That hotel is not unique in any way.
In that environment, there can be no frozen zones, no secured rooftops, no controlled flow of pedestrian traffic and no access to or near the POTUS.
I agree that he will likely get into the area- but my WAG from what I am hearing on CNN- which is an endless stream of first-person victim interviews face to face ( I can’t see them cause I listen to CNN on XM Radio ) or phoned-in interviews from folks like the Ritz-Carlton lady)is that he will go to Biloxi. Which is Ground Zero for the Hurricane itself anyway. He will avoid a town where there is no organized policing and guns have been stolen by so many angry people that as helicopters circled the SuperDome overhead to watch out as people were taken onto buses for their trip to Houston, people were shooting at the helicopters.
I’m no Bush fan, but I seriously pray that man does not expose himself to that level of lawlessness. People are getting killed for trinkets, food and water.
[–Minor bitter hijack–] for those high-falootin’ Americans who thought that total lawlessness was somehow the sole purvey of the Third World, wake up and watch what Americans can do to Americans. Your family is starving? Steal food. Fine. You’re stealing guns, microwave ovens and television sets out of the homes of your neighbors? What kind of a citizen does that make you? [ — / Minor bitter hijack ]
Cartooniverse
Well Air Force One will hold a good number of people.
I read that he has already done that.
I’m of the opinion that a visit would be useless - I know how much I cared about a Presidential visit to New York after September 11, which was “not in the least” - but since people are already starting to criticize him for not going down there sooner, he’s obligated to go down there. He was going to anyway, I’m sure, it’s just what’s done.
-
The first contingent of 100 MPs finally arrived last night at NO airport. (And only 100 at that!)
-
This AM, BushII is going to be at the NO airport.
-
Anybody want to guess why those MPs were sent there instead of the convention center?
This is despicable. Wasting valuable MPs on a political show.
Fill Air Force 1 with food, water and medicine and send that to the NO airport instead. This would make a better impression and actually do something usefull.
That’s step 2.
Step 1 would be getting the people to the airport.
Step 3 would be figuring out where to bring the people.
I don’t like Bush. I don’t like how anything in this disaster has been handled. But I cannot fault Bush for going down there. He really has no choice. He’s the President. He needs to go down there and be presidential. His only benefit to going down there is intangible. Whether or not you like him, when the president shows up, shakes your hand, and tells you “Thank you for your hard work,” that boosts your moral, and the moral of everyone around you.
Unfortunately, he’ll probably make a speech, which will give everyone a chance to think.
Well, he’s been and gone.
He’s visited the affected areas, seen the devastation, and done his best to lift morale.
Aid seems to be arriving about as fast as it can be deployed, given that allowances have to be made for the safety of the providers considering the armed looters and other criminals reported to be on the loose.
I suspect that many people from NO will end up living on various military bases for a few months.
decommisioned bases make the most sense for long term refuge. they are mini cities. they have been closed down all over the states.
i have suggested to the mayor’s action line in philly, that they give serious thought to housing people in the navy ship yard. we have huge buildings, houses, and barracks, going empty. the yard also has its own landing strip, ship docks, train line, and a big street that connect it to philly. you could get people in there by every mode of transport.
I just found it ironic that the big relief convoys showed up the same day that the President did. Coincidence, or deliberate timing? (Or, perhaps, bureaucrats saying to themselves "Damn! The Boss is coming! Better get off our asses and do something!)
Probably mostly coincidence. With all due respect to Mayor Nagin, it’s rather unrealistic to expect that 500 busses and 10,000 Guardsmen are going to show up ten minutes after you ask for them.
This thread is neither “himble” or “humble”, and it’s not much of a debate.
Moving thread from IMHO to The BBQ Pit.
Well, that, in and of itself would be justification enough for the trip.
Agreed. But did he take back any homeless pets with him? :eek:
Which I think is a major lost-opprotunity for him. Even though the guesture would be largely symbolic, why didn’t he bring a bag of his wife’s and daughters’ clothes to give away, and canned goods straight from the White House kitchen? Why didn’t he bring some survivors into his chopper and drop them off at the nearest evac point? (The SS could have provided plenty of protection from a couple women, children and old people.) Why didn’t he pack his pockets full of meal-replacement bars to pass out to hungry people?