NEW ORLEANS -- President Obama comes here this weekend to deliver a speech on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the city's near-destruction. Since he's got a big Iraq speech coming up as well, and since nobody wants a repeat of the ghostly, ghastly, floodlit Jackson Square performance by his predecessor, I've taken the initiative to write a short version of the speech I hope he delivers to New Orleans and the nation:
My fellow Americans, we can't move ahead successfully until we recognize the true nature of what happened here. Five years ago, while the Mississippi Gulf Coast was savaged by a hurricane, New Orleans was savaged by the mistakes and misjudgments of a federal agency mandated by Congress to protect this city.Our federal taxes ended up killing nearly two thousand people here in the Crescent City. Acknowledging those facts, which are there for all to see in two painstakingly investigated independent reports, helps people here deal with the pain and the disappointment. That's why there's now a state historical marker at the site of the worst of the more than 50 failure points, the breach of the floodwall at the 17th Street Canal.
But that's just the first step. It's easy to pledge that such a horrible event, born in the good intentions of Congress to protect this area, won't happen again. So far, it's just been words. The same agency that failed you, and us, is using the same low factor of safety, much lower than they use for rural dams, for a system meant to protect a large urban area. And we're still making our water policy, in a century of rising sea levels, the old-fashioned way: one pork-barrel project at a time. Other cities, supposedly protected by federal levees, face the possibility of the same horror New Orleans experienced.
That's not good enough for America. That's not good enough for the 21st century. So today, I'm announcing a new initiative -- a national water policy to deal with situations where, because of hurricanes or flooding, there's too much water, or with situations where, because of drought, there's too little. We'll assemble a group of scientists and engineers from across the spectrum of studies -- from geography to hydrology -- and we'll invite our friends from the Netherlands, who have seven centuries of history in learning how to live with water, to join in drafting a policy that can adapt with the changes that we know lie ahead.
If we have to, we'll create a new agency to execute this policy, to work with state and local partners in a constructive and cooperative way. Not because we want to add a new agency to the federal government, but because the old one clearly hasn't worked. When you kill the people you're pledged to protect, that's reason enough to change.
Follow Harry Shearer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@letwits
Health Care expenses had crippled auto makers and they dumped the retirement plans on the U.S. Government because of the Health Care expenses.
Why don't we come and make you life better here in the Gulf ? Billions of barrels of oil were released. In a PURE Capitalist system you would have to deal with BP alone we here to least a fair shake from this disaster.
Health Care reform ? Yes we did that because the demands for Medical Care have become so expensive it is destroying Capitalism and hurting Americans ability to spend money in other sectors of the economy.
The fraud in housing crippled our country we are working thru it now we are trying to Re-establish Housing as a Equity Base for the U.S. Economy !!!!
Presently the U.S. Economy has NO Safe Equity Base that was destoyed along with the banking regulations . Over the past 5 years where lacks regulation and law enforcement allowed Financial Fraud to over run the ecomony.
We can't only have 2 or 3 economic sectors where money is spent or Capitalism will crash !!!!!!!
How silly can you be asking for more and more and more.
Saving Capitalism will be the best thing the Obama Adminstration will have done and has not been easy when everyone wants to walk away with tons of money without even earning it
I don't know what the answer is, but I can't help but question the wisdom of pouring more money and energy into a form of protection that is actually accelerating the forces that make New Orleans more vulnerable?
I live along Florida's Gulf coast and love it here. But I've seen how seawalls and other interference with the natural world have really screwed up the coastline and turned the barrier islands into much less-effective barriers between the Gulf and the mainland.
How do we get a new government agency that is competent? We can't use the Cash for Clunkers incompetents. We cant use the incompetent guys running the Cash for Caulkers fiasco. Neither can we use the guys who waived drilling regulations for BP. Where the hell are we going to find competency in the government?
We're rapidly running out of rich people, draining them dry and giving their money to people who believe they're entitled to it.
This is the problem with a big federal government that usurps powers of the states.
Maybe we should let the locals eliminate the corruption from their state and local governments, and have them elect local officials that are competent to design state programs to deal with issues such as this. It was mostly those governments that failed to evacuate their people, even when warned to do so.
Waiting until the whole area was underwater, and then passing the buck, was like closing the barn door after the horse has run away.
He should also pledge to bring back those who lost everything. The very ones that gave NO it's charm and flavor.I find it very odd to see so many white people celebrating the cities recovery.
Despite all the tragedy and hardship that the people of New Orleans have suffered and endured, there appears to be a concerted effort to make life more difficult for the working poor, the middle class, the elderly and the young.
Well now thanks for coming out I have a few questions... Do you guys have your FEMA plans straighten out now Louisiana authorities like you where supposed to in the 1st place? You know Like every other State has? Your relief stations and evacuation points ready? How about your transportation issues they fixed? Are your HF radios tested regularly and functional now? Do you have your fresh water points and trauma units staged and supplied? What about your Police & National Guard are they gonna stay this time? What are your plans to reenter the affected areas? Do you even have my peeps phone numbers?! Now you guys blew it last time and I'm telling you all now I'm not taking the heat like GWB did because you tried to con each other right up to the last seconds. If another one hits, its on you so you better be ready. Just make me look good, I got enough on my plate. Ok now go do the right thing, I gotta split the plane is running.