Irene V Katrina: The Contrasting Ideology of Obama v Bush In Evidence

Irene VS Katrina: The Contrasting Ideologies of Obama and Bush

By: Sarah JonesAug. 28th, 2011more from Sarah Jones

Irene VS Katrina: The Contrasting Ideologies of Obama and Bush was written by Sarah Jones for PoliticusUSA.

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21 Responses to Irene VS Katrina: The Contrasting Ideologies of Obama and Bush

Jim H.

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 2:10 pm

Hear, hear! President Obama knows that he is going to be attacked by Republicans for any action he does or does not take, but he is going to do the right thing regardless and he is not going to hold back assistance from those who need it over a silly thing like ideology.
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- Tina
  
  Aug. 29th, 2011 at 6:01 am
  
  +1
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e

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 2:12 pm

when people look back on BHO’s run, they’ll see how liberal he is maybe not in the details of issues but in the broader big picture. couldn’t be happier to have him as our president AGAIN. he’s not perfect but he does a damn good job of leading this country. no wonder the republicants hate him. he makes them look like fools with one hand tied behind his back.
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- Tina
  
  Aug. 29th, 2011 at 6:03 am
  
  +1. This country is very fortunate to have this man as their President.I just wish they would wake up today and realize this.
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from wRong to Left

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 2:14 pm

spot on– i’ve moved from wRong Paul libertarianism to a hard Left position since the late 90s and ma azaed at teh intellectual dishonesty displayed by the fundy wRong– whenever confronted by their Austrian Objectivist failures they only reply that it was a failure due to a lack of ideological purity, thus doubling down as we see in the GOtP.
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- e
  
  Aug. 28th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
  
  cantor is going to withhold assistance from rather wealthy areas unless the budget is balanced. talk about doubling down.
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boil

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 2:47 pm

the obama derangement syndrome is now a pandemic. i have been lurking around the rightwing blogs,and the comments from the new KKK is full of hate…. the new KKK doesnt need to hide in sheets anymore, they hide behind screenames….
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Shiva (Moderator)

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 3:10 pm

I think the Nashville floods showed a lot of how he was going to handle things like this. He has people in Nashville before the floods actually hit based on national weather forecasts.

The republicans want to go from prevention and on the ground help to a devastated America
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Zookeeper

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 4:47 pm

Excellent post, Sarah.

The rightwing nutters will attack the President no matter what he does, so he might as well get on with it. It’s up to us to be consistently loud about his successes between now and 2012.
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rightwingexteme

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 5:10 pm

Part of being responsible is preparing in advance for trouble.

Had LA and New Orleans followed their plans, katrina would not have been the disaster it was.

If Blonco and Nagan had acted as they should have, Katrina would not have been the disaster it was.

If the people of NO had prepared, Katrina would not have been the disaster it was.
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- Shiva (Moderator)
  
  Aug. 28th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
  
  Right. I would remove Bush from responsibility too. After all he was busy worrying if Cheney was still his friend
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  - Linda1961
    
    Aug. 28th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
    
    I thought Bush was too busy playing the guitar with some musician (don’t remember who) and helping McCain celebrate his birthday to care about Katrina.
    
    The pictures of Bush playing the guitar while NOLA drowned reminded me of the story of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
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- Linda1961
  
  Aug. 28th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
  
  The preamble of the Constitution includes “Provide for the common defense”. In case you forgot, the Constitution lays out the power and duties of the FEDERAL government, and I’d say preparing for natural disasters falls under “common defense”. If Bush’s FEMA had coordinated things, like most Americans expect, New Orleans and LA would have been prepared. The state and local authorities could have done better, granted, but they were handicapped by an incompetent and uncaring federal government headed by Bush.
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Phred

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 5:36 pm

I agree with most of this post, but “states like Chicago”??? Come again?
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Beaglemom

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 5:40 pm

Thank you for your super assessment of what the difference is between President Obama and President George Bush. I was so proud to listen to President Obama the other day when he talked about the impending storm and urged people to take warnings seriously. What a great leader he is! I wish the media would give him the credit he deserves.
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e

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 6:15 pm

I see the Free Republic is doing pr clean up. Better luck next time Phred.
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A Walkaway

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 6:54 pm

I saw FEMA in action during the three hurricanes that clobbered this area in 2004 (under Bush). It was far worse than most people know… the news didn’t give the damage as much coverage as there really was or how halfassed the responses were. I LIKE the proactive stance that was taken by President Obama. I also know just how dishonest FEMA can be – I’ve already related some of my experiences on how they helped the rich and denied the poor in this area (and the state’s unneeded destruction of people’s homes – showing that a state-level response might be far worse).

I do wish they could be more proactive in requiring better construction and common sense in building – rather than focusing on just evacuating people. No more construction on barrier islands or close to the water would be a nice start. The damned rich can do without their waterfront luxury (vacation) homes, and we shouldn’t have to bail out their losses when their condo-on-the-shore gets destroyed (down here, most beach-front “homes” are insured through the state-funded “insurance of last resort”, along with mobile home owners).

Katrina? That was a man-made disaster in many ways and at different levels. With some common sense and proper construction/funding, it could have been avoided. FEMA was a disaster in itself and they were so disorganized that they couldn’t find their asses with their own hands. A relative of ours is a truck driver, and he was diverted by his employer to truck supplies into Louisiana for FEMA. He reported that they (FEMA) stopped a lot of trucks a long distance from the disaster area and the drivers sat there for days, with critically needed supplies just sitting there. It was clear to him and to the others it was a problem of communication and organization. I don’t remember the exact reason that was given to them, but it was something along the lines of they didn’t know what to do with the supplies.

(Remember how the preachers claimed Katrina was punishment for the sins of New Orleans? The Old City area that they think of was relatively undamaged as it was higher in elevation, and it was primarily the poor areas that were wiped.)

I strongly believe it’s difference in political philosophies that is behind the different responses. I really appreciate President Obama’s actions in this disaster (and that is what it is), and pray for the people who have suffered because of this situation.
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Garth1066

Aug. 28th, 2011 at 7:30 pm

1000 Americans died in Katrina. The local governments did not have the resources to handle the problems. It was not for lack of trying. The situation only came under control when the federal government came in. Only the federal government had the resources to help. There is no way of knowing how many Americans would have survived if the federal government had acted sooner. But there is no doubt that hundreds more would have survived had Bush been more proactive. It is the responsibility of the United States of American government to protect American lives from all threats foreign and domestic.
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Anne

Aug. 29th, 2011 at 7:32 am

I totally agree with this assessment of the difference between GW’s approach and that of our current president. The GOP arguments about the role of government are not only intellectually dishonest, but they are morally bankrupt as well. Under their dangerously flawed theory, many more lives would be at unnecessary risk. Katrina is a prime example of just how far off the mark the GOP arguments are. One underlying reason that things went so badly is that “Brownie” had no business being head of FEMA because he had nothing in his past work experience to prepare for disasters, especially of Katrina’s magnitude. He was in that position as a result of cronyism, and he was callously hung out to dry by the administration he served. What would be even more effective at prevention would be addressing and fixing the infrastructure problems in this country, some of which are long-standing.
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A Walkaway

Aug. 29th, 2011 at 12:21 pm

As a class project (Environmental Anthropology), we did an analysis of the Katrina disaster. One of the things I learned from it was that the company who made at least one the Levees which broke had sued the US government, telling that they were required to do substandard work and that they feared the Levee would fail because of the way they were required to build it. After Katrina, the US government tried to go after them for the failure.

That whole thing was a politician-driven screwup from day one. IF they’d funded things properly and didn’t try to cut corners, the Levee system would have been finished long before Katrina, and the sections that failed probably would not have.

But they had to reduce taxes (on the rich) and cut costs…
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CLeo17

Aug. 29th, 2011 at 2:26 pm

How do rich people live with themselves knowing this country is falling apart because they don’t want to contribute one dime to its standing. And yet they walk our streets, fly in our skies, eat our foods, WTH do they keep getting tax breaks? You do hear the GOP these days? ALL OF THEM. I WILL NOT RAISE TAXES..the stupid people always applaud. Dumb idiots. They’re talking about NEVER RAISING TAXES ON THE RICH…YOU they will tax so the RICH CAN HAVE THEIR TAX BREAK..got it? Oh thats right. You guys hate the truth. You live by lies and will die by those very same lies thanks to the GOP…your wondrous leaders.
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