A former top official from the George W. Bush White House
and I play a game via email. The slug of each message is always —
“Imagine If Bush Had ” followed by some egregious act by President
Obama.
The latest email was, of course, about Hurricane Sandy. Imagine if former President Bush had popped into a hurricane-ravaged region, walked around with a few federal officials for an hour, hugged distraught and sobbing women, then headed off to Las Vegas, bounding off Air Force One with a huge smile, waving to adoring fans?
Imagine if the bashed and thrashed 43rd president had popped over to FEMA for a 30-minute photo op, then jetted off for yet another campaign rally with Hollywood celebs?
Before we go on, let’s set the record straight about Hurricane Katrina. On Aug. 29, 2005, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation order for the city — hours after the storm had become a Category 5 and just 19 hours before it made landfall. More than 60,000 residents ignored the order — or couldn’t get out in time. The mayor then failed to deploy thousands of buses that could have ferried out 12,000 people per fleet run. He didn’t even move the buses themselves to higher ground — a day later, they were window-high in water, useless.
For at least three days, both the mayor and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco repeatedly told the White House they had the situation under control — until they suddenly turned and blamed the federal government for everything.
The latest email was, of course, about Hurricane Sandy. Imagine if former President Bush had popped into a hurricane-ravaged region, walked around with a few federal officials for an hour, hugged distraught and sobbing women, then headed off to Las Vegas, bounding off Air Force One with a huge smile, waving to adoring fans?
Imagine if the bashed and thrashed 43rd president had popped over to FEMA for a 30-minute photo op, then jetted off for yet another campaign rally with Hollywood celebs?
Before we go on, let’s set the record straight about Hurricane Katrina. On Aug. 29, 2005, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation order for the city — hours after the storm had become a Category 5 and just 19 hours before it made landfall. More than 60,000 residents ignored the order — or couldn’t get out in time. The mayor then failed to deploy thousands of buses that could have ferried out 12,000 people per fleet run. He didn’t even move the buses themselves to higher ground — a day later, they were window-high in water, useless.
For at least three days, both the mayor and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco repeatedly told the White House they had the situation under control — until they suddenly turned and blamed the federal government for everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment