Here the last two days it seems that all everyone on TV is wanting to do is point fingers. There’s still months of work left to been done along the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama coastline and instead of focusing on getting it done certain people would rather spend time pointing fingers. Most of it is typical human nature, not wanting to take the blame themselves. Some of the comments made are outright racist. Others show their own ignorance by choosing to speak out. So, I offer this layman’s view of the situation.
Mayor Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, is pointing his finger at the federal government and blaming them. So, Mayor Nagin, why don’t you answer a few questions for me so we can see who really is at fault.
It’s been known for some time that the levies would not withstand a hurricane in the 4 to 5 range. When Homeland Security inspected those levies (last year I believe) they told you that they needed to be modified because they could be a target of terrorists. So you had foreknowledge that your levee system was vulnerable to both nature and terrorists, why haven’t you budgeted for some upgrades and reenforcement of these levies?
Next off, you are the mayor of a city that is below sea level. It is my understanding that every drop of rain that falls in New Orleans has to be pumped out. Thus it would seem that water pumps are extremely vital to the well being of the city. Why is it then, that as soon as the levies broke and the pumps were needed more than ever, they quit working? Seems to me that you needed some redundancy there.
And why in the world did you send people to the Superdome when there were no MREs, no bottled water, no toilets, etc.? And if the Superdome was the only place you could send them, then why didn’t you send some toilets over to the people.
Now, I know the Governor of Louisiana has some explaining to do as well (a lot of explaining to be sure). But if you’re going to repeatedly get on TV and radio and blame everyone else, you might as well expect to get called on a few things. So, Mayor Nagin, why didn’t you have some backup plans in place, instead of waiting on the federal government to come bail you out?
You know Mayor Nagin, having lived in the delta region of Arkansas and working with some of the poorest people in my area I’ve gotten used to individuals expecting the federal government to take care of them. But you are the first person I’ve ever seen that expected the federal government to take care of an entire city while you sit in front of a TV camera complaining about the job they’re doing.
Oh, and for the celebrities that are trying to play the race card… quit trying to milk the media. Most everyone knows that decisions aren’t made based on white or black anymore. They’re made based on green. Those who have money get help, those who don’t have money, don’t get help (or at least not as much, not as fast). But, of course, you knew that already. You just chose to play the race card instead of the socioeconomic card because you get more free press that way… so you can make more green; right?
