Lack of Leadership during Katrina

Busy weekend, so here is flashback to our so-called leader during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.


Watch the video from Crooks and Liars.

Sept. 2nd, 2005 - Bush: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”

The truth (emphasis added is mine):

A June 8, 2004, New Orleans Times-Picayune article noted: "For the first time in 37 years, federal budget cuts have all but stopped major work on the New Orleans area's east bank hurricane levees." The article quoted the manager of the Army Corps of Engineers' Lake Pontchartrain levee project saying that "people should know that this is a work in progress, and there's more important work yet to do before there is a complete system in place." A Corps senior project manager added, "When levees are below grade, as ours are in many spots right now, they're more vulnerable to waves pouring over them and degrading them." And Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri told the paper: "It appears that the money [for hurricane-protection efforts] has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. ... Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

Remember, this guy is the person we are supposed to be looking to for leadership and we are stuck with him for 2 more years.