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An economy built entirely on a massive housing bubble destined to destroy the economy.
The Bush Administration contained virtually no positives. The economy certainly wasn't among them. Check his record on job growth, it was dismal even before the Great Recession hit.
All so very true. If I examine the Presidency of George Walker Bush and Richard Cheney, I am hard pressed to find any positives during their 8 year reign. The rich did very well, his administration was all about tax cuts for the ultra wealthy, but the other 99% of the country had to endure not only their incompetence and the awful attacks of 9/11, but their obsession with invading Iraq, which even I knew would be a complete disaster. Then, of course, their complete indifference to the poor people of New Orleans, being oblivious to what was happening because, frankly, this administration never cared.
It's all they have in trying to deflect criticism from the ongoing train wreck that is Obama.
Obama did more in ne year than Bush did in 8 of them. I will have to give credit to Bush, though, for setting back the Integrity of America, in the eyes of the World, in one year, more than anyone in History could have done in 50 years.
While Dubya wasn't a great President by any stretch of the imagination, the incompetence demonstrated by N'awlins Mayor Ray Nagin and the Government of the State of Louisiana did far more damage to the city of New Orleans and its citizens than Dubya ever could have.
No question the Mayor was a disaster, and Gov. Blanco dropped the ball as well. I would never dispute that.
So Bush goes to pay tribute to the recovery of New Orleans and it's a bad thing?
Depends on who is looking. Had Hitler lived, some would have thought it would be a good thing if he visited some concentration camps to honor the dead.
Let's place responsibility where it belongs: on the local "Establishment"
You can try, but you can't blame Bush. Local politicians bear the responsibility way in advance of Katrina.
Louisiana got LOTS of fed $$ for the levees before Katrina, but their lawmakers did not view the levees as a priority, so they used the money to boost the economy.
"They judged the risk of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane taking a direct path over New Orleans sufficiently low" and chose to use the money for other projects.
During Bush’s administration, Louisiana received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion. Instead of using that money on flood control projects, they spent much of it on a new lock for the canal at a time when barge traffic had been steadily declining.
Yeah, he should have put on his Superman costume and used his super breath to blow it back out to sea.
Perhaps it would have been a "Good Idea" to realize what was coming ashore, and what factual things happen in Hurricanes, and positioned himself in a position to receive instant updates and make sure the FEMA Machine did not stall on his watch. "His Watch" is the key words here. Not the view from his social event?
We all know how the "Fiddle" thing worked while Rome was burning, so you would have thought he could take a hint.
250 school buses might safely hold 50 adults and evacuated about 12,500 of the more than 1 million who were displaced. Where would those buses take people to get them out of harms way? Does any municipality know and track where the most vulnerable live? How many of those buses might have stalled in flooded areas requiring passengers to wade through water sometimes up to their neck? What about the nearby communities that denied buses entry?
As I understand it, the governor did request Bush to declare a state of emergency 2 days before the levees failed. Could she have done so sooner? Then what? How do you safely evacuate more than 1 million, just in case? Where do you take them to get them out of harms way?
I am sorry you choose to view this through partisan glasses.
no partisanship here, its the local and state governments that need to declare the state of emergency and invite the feds in. the feds cant do anything until invited in as a result of the posse cumitatus(sp?) act. so until blanco invited the feds in, bushs hands were tied.
as for where to take the evacuees, houston took a lot, and there are plenty of other places they could have been taken as well. its all in the plans for evacuating the city of nola that have been in place for decades, and are constantly updated by each successive administration, or at least they should be updated. every city has emergency plans for just the kind of emergencies they might face.
nols plans are mostly for hurricanes, and flooding due to a levee breaking. los angeles and san francisco have earthquake emergency plans for instance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by odanny
No question the Mayor was a disaster, and Gov. Blanco dropped the ball as well. I would never dispute that.
and yet you still blame bush for the events in nola.
I never could fathom how Bush got blamed for people not leaving NO in a major storm. They had more than adequate warning and just had to leave but refused to do it. Then toss in that black Mayor of NO that refused to use the school buses to force people to leave and bailed out himself.
I may not have liked him as president but I think he's a good guy in real life....just like those who hated Jimmy Carter as president. I would love to sit down and have a beer with bush. I think he's pretty funny. Actually, I don't like beer so I would have wine. And since he doesn't drink I guess he would have water lol
No, he is a bad guy too. In fact, I think of him as a pretty awful excuse for a human being. Cheney, even more so.
Jimmy Carter never did anything malicious in office, or even inherently nasty. He is a genuinely good human being - probably is, and will be for a long time the most successful "post-President" in American history.
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