The "Medium and the Message"

[Carrie]

Can someone explain to me please how Bush froze?
Saturday he declared Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama states of emergency - almost 48 hours before the storm hit. This allowed FEMA to mobilize and get ready, and gave the State Governors authorization to mobilize their own Guardsmen (and accept Guardsmen from other States).

Monday morning after the storm hit, he declared Louisiana and Mississippi disaster areas, which freed up tons of money in aid for them.

By the time the storm was over on Monday, Guardsmen *were* on the ground in most of the affected areas and FEMA *was* on the ground as well. They had buses and trucks lined up on the highways outside of NO and could not get in because there weren't enough Guardsmen to keep them protected.

The Pentagon sent 4 Navy ships down to provide search and rescue and relief - 3 left port here in Norfolk late Monday night or very early Tuesday morning, they were gone at 5am when my hubby went in to work. 1 more left Tuesday afternoon.
The Pentagon also sent over 30,000 Guard south.
Mike Leavitt (Health and Human Services) declared a national health emergency on Wednesday and sent down tons of medical supplies and workers.

Friday, when Congress got back into session, they approved $10.5 billion in aid which the President immediately signed. He also enacted active duty military to go down and assist.

It truly seems to me that everywhere *except* New Orleans, things went smoothly (as smoothly as can be expected anyway). The true question lies with why weren't there more Guardsmen in New Orleans - and I think the answer to that comes back to Governor Blanco. She had full authority to mobilize her Guard and accept Guard from other states (we already know she was offered Guard by New Mexico's Governor and sat on it).

I'm not towing the party line here, I have been up since 7am (it's now 11am) hunting down timelines, going to state governor's websites, watching/listening to news reports archived online all over the place, trying my best to figure out what the hell happened in New Orleans. The only thing I keep coming back to is that Blanco did not send enough help there when she had full authority to do so (both her own troops and nearby states).

Each State is given these authorities and powers so that they can hold their own and facilitate the aid from Federal sources like FEMA, the Pentagon, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, etc. Congress was not in session when the hurricane hit, the very first thing they did when they went back into session was authorize more aid and money and give more power to the President to take more action. The President cannot act without Congressional approval. Perhaps we should set up some kind of system so that if the President declares an area a "disaster area", Congress has to immediately go back into session that day?

It's all coming back down to Governor Blanco, and why she didn't send more troops to New Orleans. Federal aid was available and ready and waiting to get in - it's HER call to distribute troops throughout her state. Where was she in regards to New Orleans?