Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Official Obama White House Website Insults Bush

So much for uniting the country. The One has the audacity to use his official White House website to hurl insults at outgoing President George Bush on, of all things, Hurricane Katrina, referring to Bush's "broken promises" and "unconscionable ineptitude":

President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.

President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina. Citing the Bush Administration's "unconscionable ineptitude" in responding to Hurricane Katrina, then-Senator Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims. Obama visited thousands of Hurricane survivors in the Houston Convention Center and later took three more trips to the region. He worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to introduce legislation to address the immediate income, employment, business, and housing needs of Gulf Coast communities.

President Barack Obama will partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever.

13 comments:

artfuggins said...

Can you find anything on the website that is not true???

Gary R. Welsh said...

The fault for the Katrina disaster lied squarely with the incompetent New Orleans Mayor and Louisiana Governor, who sat and twiddled their thumbs rather than implement the evacuation plan which had been written and practiced for many years. Laying aside the blame game, the material on the official website reads more like a campaign website instead of an official government website. It is in poor taste to use that official government website to lob insults at the occupant's predecessor, particularly on the very day the predecessor gracefully turned over the reins of government to the new president. By all accounts, Bush has provided Obama as smooth of a transition as possible. Contrast that with what the Clinton White House did to Bush--trashed the offices, turned desks upside down, stole the "W" off the computer keyboards, etc. Totally tasteless--just like the way the crowd dissed Bush when he stepped out on to the platform and sang the farewell song, "Goodbye", an act usually reserved to sporting events and entirely inappropriate for the solemn occasion of the swearing-in of a new president.

Wilson46201 said...

Katrina was the defining moment in politics when Americans realized what a spectacular screwup George W Bush truly was. If some of you Republicans wish to whitewash that episode, you will continue to sink into the cesspool of being the Southern White Peoples Party.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Of course the Democratic mayor and governor had no responsibility. Wilson (the Democrats never do anything wrong) Allen, says so. This was the first natural disaster where anyone felt that the first line of response fell to the federal government and that the state and local government had no responsibility. Gov. Daniels and local officials in Indiana proved very effective in responding to Indiana's flooding last year before any help came from the feds. Contrast that with the neighboring Wabash River counties in Illinois, which were completely ignored by Obama and Blagojevich. The folks in Illinois looked across the river and asked why they weren't getting that kind of help out of their government leaders.

Downtown Indy said...

Ah yes, I remember now - it was Bush's fault all those buses sat idle rather than being used to evacuate. Ray Nagin was merely caught up in the Bushian web of red tape.

artfuggins said...

In those now infamous words...."Good job, Brownie"

Gary R. Welsh said...

It was actually "heckuva job, Brownie."

Downtown Indy said...

It was actually "heckuva job, Brownie."

Accurate recollections of past events is not Art's strong suit.

garyj said...

Art/Wilson.....The problems in New Orleans were the fault of the people of that city. A big storm coming, lets wait and let the government do things for us.

Mann Law, P.C. said...

Didn't Obama vote against the motion to take the money from the Alaskan bridge from nowhere and use it to rebuild a bridge in New Orleans? His explanation was he didn't want to interfere with another senator's pet project.

I am sure that the feds also screwed up but why is it only Louisiana had such problems? Mississippi did not have the same problems. Also, many of the problems in New Orleans were a result of years of incompetence.

Downtown Indy said...

I was in Kenner LA a few wks after Katrina as soon as the airport reopened. I stood in a client's (intact) living room as his two daughters left to get their $2500 assistance checks. The family earned 6 figures, the girls were 1st/2nd year college students living at home and still they netted 5 grand in free money. What I don't know is what kind of lies they told to pull it off. But they didn't trick Bush out of that money. You can bet they were not alone, either.

That's why Nola is so f'ed up.

Mike's America said...

"Can you find anything on the website that is not true???"

How about this:

"“President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina,” "

Really? He was President in 2005?

He had only been a U.S. Senator for a year at the time Katrina struck. And while he was busy turning the disaster into a political circus, Bush was directing the rooftop rescue of 30,000 people.

Who did more for Katrina victims? Bush or Obama?

Bush has bent over backwards to be gracious to Obama throughout the transition. Obama just spits in his face.

So much for the honeymoon.

Jason said...

I was part of a group that volunteered to go to Katrina. Unfortunately, we sat idly for 3 weeks waiting for the government in Louisiana to file paperwork allowing us to perform work functions in the state of Louisiana (per federal regulations that were in place at the time.)

By the time they finally filed the paperwork, there wasn't much help left to give, and what there was went to Mississippi instead.