I just watched the president’s speech from New Orleans on the Katrina disaster and recovery efforts. On the whole, I think he delivered a good speech and showed that he recognized the scope of the task ahead. I hope later in the evening to update this post with more extended thoughts on the speech because I do have some concerns.
Importantly, the president wants all departments of the federal government to investigate what went wrong with the response to this disaster — at all levels. He wants to find out what went wrong so we can figure out how to better improve our reaction to future disasters of this magnitude. This is exactly the attitude the chief executive should take in response to the failures of the recovery in the immediate aftermath of the storm. And this stand is clear contradistinction to the attitude of many Democrats, notably the House Minority Leader, and their allies in the blogosphere and MSM. They want investigations to serve primarily to prove their pre-existing theories of their chief adversary’s incompetence.
Tonight the president laid out his plans for what needs to be done in the wake of this unprecedented catastrophe. Let’s hope that his adversaries address the merits of this proposal.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com
UPDATE: While yours truly watched speech on Fox, PrismWarden took in the coverage on ABC and observed
There is nothing sweeter than seeing an ABC reporter interviewing black New Orleaneans, asking questions fully intended to draw out criticism of the president, only to be met with tirades against the state and local governments and warm, unanimous support of the president.
Over at Polipundit, Lorie Byrd, an up and coming Athena, noted the same thing. One evacuee “said that what the President said lifted her up and gave her hope.”