Georgie, You’re Doing a Heck of a Job

When I first sat down to write this little rant my calendar read September 11, 2005 . Russert was talking to some Deputy Director from L.S.U. having just finished an interview with the mayor of New Orleans and Bush had just concluded some tribute to 9/11 which left me shaking my head in disgust. The juxtaposition of voices and images out of New Orleans and Washington D.C. these last weeks along with the fourth anniversary of 9/11 convinces me that the last four years have been nothing more than a waste of time, money and lives. Quite honestly, I doubt anything is going to change for the better. For the sake of America , I hope I’m wrong.

The last few weeks have been irrefutable proof that America is being wrecked and mismanaged by the most incompetent, dangerous and out of touch boobs ever to obtain power. Any American with even a tiny amount of conscience who watched those images from New Orleans shook their heads with disbelief and shame that something like this should happen within our own borders in these modern times. As pictures of floating corpses glared at us through our TV sets, we were treated to photo-ops of our supposed leader golfing, blithering about Social Security, eating cake and strumming a guitar. Meanwhile, our Secretary of State shopped for shoes and took in a show while the Vice President shopped for a house in a ritzy Maryland neighborhood.

And just as it was four years ago before the smoke had cleared in Southern Manhattan, the Bush people are running from any sense of responsibility or accountability before the waters are gone from New Orleans . Oh sure, I know Bush came out later the same week and assumed responsibility for any short-comings by the federal government, but that ploy was devised to address his pathetic numbers rather than any altruistic intentions. They still shamelessly accuse those who point to the pathetic response of the federal government of playing the “blame game” and “pointing fingers” while they and their media mouthpieces do exactly the same thing when referring to State and Local officials. But there are other unfortunate similarities regarding Bush and Company’s actions that also remind us of what happened four years ago besides their chronic fear of accountability.

There were ignored warnings, budget cuts of defenses or intelligence and, of course, the month long August vacation. When Bush stated on television that nobody could have foreseen that the levees would break, it reminded me of their ridiculous claim four years ago that nobody could’ve foreseen the use of airplanes as missiles. Both remarks have been shown to be ludicrous and irresponsible in light of the facts. And as much as they played down the toxic air surrounding Ground Zero during the clean up, the Bush administration is avoiding the fact that the waters which swallowed up New Orleans - and still remain - are a poisonous “witch’s brew” which will leave much of the area uninhabitable for years.

Yet the most disturbing similarity between 9/11 and the aftermath of Katrina is Bush’s outright refusal to examine the obvious mistakes made by his administration. The day before he was to address the country about all things Katrina, the Republicans in the Senate saw to it that there would be no independent investigation. Just as Bush fought tooth and nail to stone-wall any independent investigation into the events of 9/11, he has now declared that he himself will conduct an inquiry into what “mistakes were made.” Excuse me, but that is as absurd as allowing the Department of Defense “investigate” what happened at Abu Ghraib and we all know what a white-wash that turned out to be. Allow me to get a tad personal.

Sorry, George, but nobody with any brain wave activity has any confidence that you’ll get to the bottom of this. Hell, aren’t you still looking for the source of the CIA leak in your own White House? You said you’d get to the bottom of that one too. Face it, George, most of us just don’t believe you anymore. And quite frankly, I don’t believe most of us believed you long before this latest cataclysmic failure went down. You lied about what you knew before 9/11, you lied about Iraq and now you’re lying about Katrina and all you plan to do to fix things. The reality is that the only things you truly wish to fix are your abysmal approval ratings. You’ve even had to call on the wife to label your critics “disgusting.” You want to know what disgusting is, Georgie - Boy?

Your Mama. That’s right, your Mama. That same silver-haired, callous witch who didn’t want to trouble her “beautiful mind” with all the deaths in Iraq you’re responsible for, actually hauled off and said that the victims of Katrina were better off now because, after all, they were “underprivileged” before the hurricane left them homeless. Things are working out “quite well” for these people, according to your detached and arrogant mother. Of course, the thought that they may stay in Texas “scares her.” Good God, George, no wonder your Dad is such a wimp and you’re such a spectacular failure! Freud would have had a field day with the lot of you. And your comments over the weeks haven’t been much better!

You say you can’t wait to sit on Trent Lott’s new porch? You asked Nancy Pelosi “what didn’t go right?” You think anybody took comfort as you reminisced that you used to get snow blind and blasted out of your mind in New Orleans shortly before you stole the presidency? You really think “Brownie did a heck of a job?” Why do I think that you would have any sense of decency about this catastrophe after I saw you joke about not finding any WMD’s at a Press Club dinner a few years ago? I swear by all that is decent and right, you and your ilk are an embarrassment to this country that is unparalleled.

You willingly and strategically reduced FEMA to less than a shadow of what it had become under Clinton . You placed people woefully unqualified to run the joint and now you wonder why you look like such an ass. You actually ate cake while the corpses of infants floated down the streets of New Orleans and you wonder why your ratings are so low that they need a ladder to see over the gutter. You upped your record of incompetence by waiting five days to take action rather than the almost thirty minutes you sat on your backside the morning of 9/11. Face it, George; you positively stink in a crisis situation.

And has it dawned on you or any of your blind and blithering supporters that Katrina proves that we are no more “safe” than we were before 9/11? You all had days to prepare and you still screwed up. Sure, the state and local officials had the same amount of time as you did, but anybody not suffering from cranial damage knows that in a crisis of this magnitude, state and local government are going to be overwhelmed and incapable to provide the relief that needs to be provided. That’s why we have FEMA. Or at least we did until you screwed everything up. Yes you.

While you were out invading countries that posed no threat to us, looking for weapons that you lied about and chastising those who knew you were lying, you allowed our homeland to become even more unsecured than it was before that day in September four years ago. You have blessed us with more enemies than we ever had, squandered away our wealth and told the rest of the world to piss off while you and your friends got rich off of America ’s fears and apathy which you exploited.

And now, in the aftermath of the greatest disaster to hit America (other than you), you once again tell the world to go to hell. Your administration delayed Canadian efforts, turned away German efforts and ignored Russian, Cuban and Venezuelan efforts to assist us in our time of need. Exactly what is the problem with you people? Brownie gave an interview to the NY Times printed Thursday morning where he tried to blame Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco for the catastrophe yet, at the same time made it clear that, due to his actions and communications, the White House knew very early that things were falling apart in New Orleans – and did nothing. Now we must ask again just as we asked after 9/11; who gave the stand down order? Who decided not to act and why?

Anyway, Brownie is now gone after doing “one heck of a job” and with your numbers lower than even Herbert Hoover, you’ve had no choice but to except some responsibility. Damn, that must’ve killed you. Well, then again, maybe not seeing as it was only the last resort in order to somehow improve your image. Maybe it’ll work and maybe it won’t. Much of that will depend upon the media and whether acting like journalists for the first time in over a decade scared them or made them feel credible for a change.

Another deciding factor will be if the Democrats finally recognize that the carpet isn’t going to get any redder and that being a member of the opposition isn’t going to get any easier. Of course, this is contingent upon the realization that they are supposed to be the opposition! I don’t know, I’ve had to turn off the “Caress-Fest” of John Roberts on C-SPAN 3 so I don’t mess the rug. Let’s put it this way, other than a handful of Democrats, I don’t have much hope. Sorry, but they’ve been horribly disappointing for far too many years.

Here’s the thing. Just like the aftermath of 9/11, the Bush administration is more involved in damage control rather than correcting the damage. They don’t want any “independent” investigation into what happened (which strikes me as odd – why not just put Philip D. Zelikow in charge like they did with “independent” 9/11 commission? That way they could white-wash this investigation too?). Bush has spent the time since 9/11 weakening our homeland security and making more enemies. He has depleted our resources in money and lives in his quest to be allowed to sit next to Pappy Bush at the next family Thanksgiving dinner. And in New Orleans , just like Iraq , we are reading some familiar names that promise to help “fix” everything. Halliburton, KBR, Blackstone and other “family businesses” are moving into yet another Bush created disaster zone. That’s right, a Bush created disaster zone, dammit!

He weakened the defense for New Orleans ‘cause the rich needed tax cuts and Iraq needed money that we didn’t have, he appointed pals to head FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security who had zero experience for the job, he ignored warnings from experts (just like 9/11), and when the stuff hit the fan – he sat on his ass. Plain and simple. Now he’s looking for a bullhorn moment, but that time has come and gone. And the perfectly awful speech he gave on the 15th didn’t do much except to anger the extremists in the Republican party who just don’t feel like rebuilding New Orleans – as if Bush really meant what he said. So George has one option left.

Being that Katrina originated in the Bahamas , it only makes sense that we invade Cuba . Because if the terrorists ever got their hands on a hurricane……..

Writer/Activist, W. David Jenkins III resides in upstate New York with his wife and two children. His article "The Death of America" was featured in the book, "The Girl with Yellow Flowers in Her Hair" by Lisa Walsh Thomas (Pitchfork Publishing http://www.pitchforkpublishing.com/ ). He also contributed to the book, "Big Bush Lies" by Jerry Barrett due to be published in April 2004. Jenkins' writing is published on many political web sites and his website can be viewed here. http://www.wdavidjenkins3.com/

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