Obama to New Orleans: Drop Dead?

CLEVELAND -- Regular readers know I've been critical of the Obama administration for its do-nothing approach to redeeming the president's promise to redeem the promises Bush made in Jackson Square two weeks after the city was flooded by the failure of the federal levees. Now, it's not just me and my little opinion.

Politifact, run by the St. Petersburg Times (a reputable and non-profit newspaper), has made a handy checklist of the president's statements on the city's needs and his promises to help meet those needs, measured against what he's actually proposed and/or done. It's not surprising, at least to me, that the scoreboard contains almost all goose-eggs. Yes, we all know he's got a lot on his plate, yet he managed to find time to sign an executive order last week reorganizing the cleanup of Chesapeake Bay, so not all local needs are going unmet. And the Washington Post reports the stimulus bill, while containing nothing for New Orleans, did make a nice stash available for the contractors who've been taking their time, and making some mistakes, trying to clean up our nuclear weapons sites.

The farther we get into this administration, the clearer it becomes that New Orleans is now enjoying its second consecutive federal administration which, far from offering to fix what it broke, far from offering a hand of support, is merely offering one finger. (Hat tip: LSD)

Comments

[tc2598]

Skinner! You're coming off as theatrically petulant!

[JEdgarH]

Come on, there is so much on his plate right now, he'll get around to it. Just give him a chance. He's only been in office like 4 months. He's tried to do so much and he'll definitely do more. Just give him a chance!!!!!!!!!

Everyone wants something done immediately, which is impossible considering what this president is dealing with and wants to do, but it shall be done.

[Netizen]

All you defenders of the indefensible simply must take the "hopelessly devoted to you" blinders off.

[tc2598]

Dude that's like so deep. Are you a monk or something?

[jade7243]

I will personally tell President Obama to extend his second 100 days to 74 days instead of 72. He can rest on the 75th.

But seriously, Harry...(m­ay I call you Harry?) do you think it's possible to have a bit more patience and avoid comparing the Obama administration to the Bush administration? Do you think it's possible to let the Obama administration be responsible for real promises made by the Obama administration and not the Bush administration? (Cleaning up Chesapeake Bay IS doable with the stroke of a pen in comparison to rebuilding a city.)

The failure of the stimulus bill to have anything for New Orleans is the failure of your congressional delegation and that Doogie Howser fellow y'all call Gov. Jindal. You know, that guy who said the state didn't need any stimulus money.

It's convenient for everyone to make demands of Obama and blame him for not solving all of our problems fast enough. But really... The man is all powerful, but he's not Jesus, and he's not bringing porkchops. And there's no big red "O" on his chest.

[tc2598]

Seymour! This nice man is making perfect sense!

[hegdehog]

Perhaps Harry is a libertarian. I hear they're smarter, more honest and more competent than everyone else on the planet.

[luziannagirl]

Xcept that libertarians have NO plan for stewardship of the commons, hedgehog. Excuse me, hegdehog.

[DogLeg]

jade, numerology freak,

When you are President everything is a stroke of the pen.

Guess what? There is no conversation going on between the Congress and the 'Executive­.'

Have you seen any substantive discourse between normal political allies? Pelosi under attack by Repugs? Where's her Democrat Pres. support or even a 'Huh?' Not to mention, never mind if you don't know by now, you won't ever.

[SammyD]

Maybe he's waiting for some accountability for the bilions and billions of dollars that were donated from citizens from around the world including Americans. The billions given of taxpayer money? Each citizen of the entire state of LA should be a multimillionair .

[hegdehog]

For Harry:

On Feb 20, President Obama signed an executive order extending the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding through Sept. 30 (it was set to expire on Feb. 28). He also sent Janet Napolitano and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to do an on-site visit on March 5 and 6 to determine the status of reconstruction efforts.

"The residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast who are helping rebuild are heroes who believe in their communities and they are succeeding despite the fact that they have not always received the support they deserve from the Federal government," Obama said in a statement. "This executive order is a first step of a sustained commitment by my administration to rebuild now, stronger than ever."

"We must ensure that the failures of the past are never repeated," he added. "My administration is committed to strengthening our preparedness, response, and recovery efforts."

He's working on it. Your impatience is understandable, but New Orleans has not been forgotten.

Good night, Harry.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

That's what you've got? The Federal Gulf Coast Recovery Czar has been a powerless cipher through two incumbencies now. It's a meaningless gesture. Napolitano was sent in mid-March on a "fact-finding" mission, as if the problem with the recovery is that, despite three separate forensic engineering investigations of the disaster, we're short on facts. She ended up her visit saying you can never build a high enough levee to deal with a storm like Katrina, so apparently she needs some more fact-finding.

[hegdehog]

Harry, I don't know if you can understand this, but President Obama was only elected a few months ago. Your claim that he has told New Orleans to "drop dead" is simply false. My post is evidence that you are a hair-shirted shrill whiner.

What do you want from us, bud? You think that question mark after "Drop Dead" makes your misleading charge less so? Yeah, that's what I've got, Harry. Facts. And you've got dishonest carping. I win.

[RepugsOut08]

Perhaps, in her fact-finding searches, she'll discover the fact that ports need to be near large bodies of water. And since ports are of some importance, both economically and militarily, to their countries, worth protecting.
Of course, assuming that "fact" is ever "found," we'd need a commission to study that fact's factual factuality.

[hegdehog]

PS: I wouldn't have commented on your post at all, but for some reason dishonest, sensationalistic headlines tend to torque my *ss. Obama never told New Orleans to "Drop Dead" (?) What did you want, Harry? A pat on the back? I'm sorry, but I simply haven't had enough tequila for that.

[jcwtts1]

How can you demand that obama solve this issue in a hundred days? How can you critically examine his first few months in office and not recognize that he has accomplished a heck of a lot? NO is a complicated issue and it is one that is going to require synergy with local and state gov. Obama can't walk in and wave a magic wand. Tell me the five things Obama should be doing? And why he should have had them done already and then maybe I'll give your voice some cred. But you sound like the rest of the progressive establishment, no matter what he does it isn't enough.

J

[mrrobinson2u]

What about government stimulus money? Haven't millions already been funneled to this city already? I guess I don't understand, with global sea levels rising, what sense it makes to throw money at a city that is already below sea level.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

You're right, you don't understand. Not a penny of the stimulus bill went to NO. And more than half of the populated city is at or above sea level.

[jcwtts1]

Do you me none went to LA or that none went specifically to Katrina damaged NO?

[cigi]

I am sure Harry is just an instant gratification freak and he'll just have to learn a little more patience. It's your test Harry, not Obama's. Come back and complain in a couple of years after Obama has had some time to start scrapping all the ****off of his shoes left by the Bush/Cheney wrecking crew. We'll take countenance then...hav­en't seen Nagin complaining and he is not a "shy" guy.

[ChiGuy]

Oh stop it! Enough is enough.
He'll get there when he gets there. He has only been in office 4 months.

[only1Demvoter]

ChiGuy : Agreed.

( ... Talk about a ' plate full '... )

While I understand Harry's tolerance level being low...

It's gonna take a decade to undo BU$HCO's incompetences.


-ralph

[katiewon]

I, too wondered why Obama hasn't addressed the Hurricane Katrina victims in NO. Recently I heard they were being kicked out of their trailers (that are making them sick) because time was up.

Obama does have too much on his plate. The feds still have a responsibility to first rebuild and fortify the levees and also support the rebuilding efforts through local government. Nagin and other NO and Louisiana officials need to be the "squeaky wheel" if they want some grease.

[CrescentCityRay]

"Nagin and other NO and Louisiana officials need to be the "squeaky wheel" if they want some grease."

Forget that. Have you seen our local leaders perform impressively? Believe it or not, those local politicians are mostly outside of our control and the 'solution' to vote for better politicians is too slow of a process to serve as a 'solution.­'.

The moral thing to do would be for the feds to immediately prop us up, and give us a little help despite our state and city politicians. Furthermore, The Army should apologize for what they did to us, National media should make an effort to dispel the myths spread by politicians, government agencies and news agencies ever since the floodwall failures. We deserve vindication. We deserve flood control structures that don't fall down without even being overtopped by storm surge waters.

[hegdehog]

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1242192074131070.xml&coll=1

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

So what? FEMA isn't the issue with the recovery at this point, it's the Corps of Engineers (or whoever else might do a better job of designing and building appropriate water-control systems for dealing with occasional major storm surge, and the Corps (and state agencies) that have jurisdiction over the means to help rebuild the ravaged coastal wetlands.

[hegdehog]

Oh, you're wrong. The Corps of Engineers doesn't have any control over policy. None whatsoever. They just do the job they're asked (and funded) to do.

[PrairieRobin]

And what about Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and other cities in Iowa that were decimated in flodding last May? The disaster here was of the same magnitude as what hit New Orleans and there's been little media coverage and very or non-existent Federal aid?

[jcwtts1]

I am unfamiliar with the extent of the flooding, but Katrina wiped out a city and a lot of it is still wiped out.

J

[Mdazes]

A lot of New Orleans problems are with the people of that city that keep electing Crooks. The re-election of Mayor Nagin prove that some people not looking for improvement.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

And what does the re-election of President Bush prove about Americans?

[RachelMc]

the same thing...

[nice2blucky]

It proves that nothing was done to fix electronic balloting in our election system. Now that we continue to go without a paper trail points directly to the ineptitude of Democratic politicians.

They think, now that they've won, nothing needs fixing. They are the most short-sighted fools. Yes, they won. But exit-polling shows that they should have won more. And in the future, when the margin of victory is lesser, and the Republicans can get away with stealing another without starting a revolution, guess which side will come out on the lucky side?

Establishing a paper trail, which supersedes the electronic ballot in contested elections, is essential to democracy.

Without suggesting that everything that can be don't, shouldn't be done. It should.

However, it is more important to ensure honest elections.

Bush didn't win either election. And I know allows myself to be cast as a radical and a loony conspiracy theorist, but it bothers me when people talk about G.W. Bush's winning, .... and therefore.­..

[nice2blucky]

It proves that nothing was done to fix electronic balloting in our election system. Now that we continue to go without a paper trail points directly to the ineptitude of Democratic politicians.

They think, now that they've won, nothing needs fixing. They are the most short-sighted fools. Yes, they won. But exit-polling shows that they should have won more. And in the future, when the margin of victory is lesser, and the Republicans can get away with stealing another without starting a revolution, guess which side will come out on the lucky side?

Establishing a paper trail, which supersedes the electronic ballot in contested elections, is essential to democracy.

Without suggesting that everything that can be done, shouldn't be done, it should.

However, it is more important to ensure honest elections.

Bush didn't win either election. And I know, it allows me to be cast as a radical and a loony conspiracy theorist, but it bothers me when people talk about G.W. Bush's winning, .... and therefore.­..

[Glacial]

I'm not sure exactly what promises Obama's kept, aside from the taxes.

Gitmo's closing (maybe), but the tribunals are back on, the secret network of CIA black sites throughout the world is working without interference, we might maybe be getting some troops out of Iraq maybe over the next years, and all so we can move 'em into Afghanistan and repeat the Soviet experience.

Oh, and universal health care but no single-payer.

[Radarman]

Don't forget the firing of Blackwater, Haliburton and KBR. Glad we got rid of them.... What! They are still on the job, still making lots of money?

[Anton Kushlan]

Getting American troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan WAS the promise that he made, not to end both wars. He NEVER said he was going to implement single payer health care, in fact he specifically said that he no intention of doing so. Pay a little closer attention and you might not be so disappointed.

[AndSoItGoes]

Take a deep breath, will ya? Give the man a chance. It isn't like EVERYTHING he has encountered isn't a crisis. He has done more is this limited amount of time than any President/­Administra­tion that I have watched (since the 50's) and even more, he is being careful, gathering all the facts first, before acting. For those critical of some of the recent issues surrounding Guantanemo, etc. He is being careful before moving too quickly. Like I said ... let the man work and get off his back.

[blimie]

What happened in New Orleans revealed our government's callous incompetence. President Obama made promises, he portrayed himself to be a man willing to work for change. He has not taken the initiative and tackled this problem. Pointing this out is not being critical, it's being truthful. Whitewashing the issue will make it worse. Thanks for speaking the truth, maybe it can create some change. Keep up the good work.

[hegdehog]

In fact he has:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/02/20/New-commitment-to-the-Gulf-Coast/

It was an executive order. A stroke of the pen. The very thing Harry insists the President hasn't done. NOT ONCE. Harry peers through a tiny hole.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

Again, this stroke appointed a cipher. Unlike the stroke of the pen that changed the cleanup of Chesapeake Bay, or the one that signed stimulus money for the nuke cleanup contractors. Or don't you read the links in the original post?