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Whatever
I point this out, because I've started to wonder if he occasionally forgets. I'm starting to wonder if he doesn't need for someone to gently whisper in his ear from time to time, "Sir, you are the President." I'm probably overreacting, but I think that may go a long way in preventing displays like this:
“Why is it four years after Katrina we’re still fighting for money to repair our devastated city?” asked Gabriel Bordenave, 29, a Loyola law school graduate. “I expected as much from the Bush administration. But why are we still being nickeled and dimed?”
The president, in a rare moment on the defensive in a format that is usually friendly to him, said many people in New Orleans were “understandably impatient” and said he had inherited a backlog of problems.
“These things were not all going to be fixed tomorrow,” Mr. Obama said. “So we are working as hard as we can, as quickly as we can.” He added, “I wish I could just write a check.”
When someone shouted, “Why not?” Mr. Obama replied, “There’s this whole thing about the Constitution.”
He added that “we’ve got to go through procedures” in assessing, for instance, how much to reimburse for the damage done to Charity Hospital in New Orleans. But he said his administration had freed up $1.4 billion in aid and told the young man, “That may not sound like a lot of money to you, but it’s real money.”
Now, that's just lame. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that President Obama doesn't care about the people of New Orleans, but after four years of delay, and nine months into his Administration, after billions of bailout dollars to AIG, are you telling me that the same Congress that passed Cash for Clunkers can't cut a check, if you leaned on them? And why say it like that? Oh, and then leave after a couple of hours, and jet to a 30 grand a plate fundraiser, in San Francisco!? WTF?
I'm probably overreacting, but I just think, when Obama won the Nobel Prize, and said it was to be a "call to action?" That means less of this, and more of actually getting things done. Remember. You are the President. You are the President.
Our RSS feed
"Can't I just eat my
"Can't I just eat my beignet?"
I still think it might be
I still think it might be cheaper in the long run for the Feds to buy the land that is not part of the city center and just turn it into a national memorial. Some places the should never have been built in the first place probably should not be rebuilt. At some time, the really big one is going to hit and it won't matter.
However, that is not a political solution that anyone is willing to embrace.
I'll embrace it.
I'll embrace it.
president yes, messiah no
Let's note first that Obama wasn't even President when this happened. Now, Katrina was indeed a tragedy of generationally epic proportions, no doubt. That makes it hard to present any counter hypothesis without sounding callous and insensitive. I'll bite anyway.
I don't really get the sense that any logistically available amount of help from the Feds would have preempted complaints that the help was insufficient, untimely, and too much of a battle to get. I think such sentiments have as much to do with how people feel in the wake of such disasters as they have to do with any comprehensive rational assessment of the overall gov't response.
Red tape is what it is. As time passes, its realistic to expect to fight more for the next dime than the last.
With the possible exception of the fed response to 9/11, I think the fed response to virtually every big catastrophe has been judged lacking in some respect by some hard-hit and still-strugging group. I'm not sure exactly what to do with that, but it's hard not to notice it.
My critique is more an issue of perception and optics, Brian.
No sane person would blame OBama for Katrina, or even the lack of funding at this point, but I just think the way he answered the question, seemed kind of weak. To the point: It's true that he can't just cut a check, but it's also true that he, as the President, has the cred to lean on Congress. He could've answered it better, is all I'm saying, and it probably didn't help the perception, by leaving after a few hours, and jetting off to a fundraiser.
With the possible exception of the fed response to 9/11, I think the fed response to virtually every big catastrophe has been judged lacking in some respect by some hard-hit and still-strugging group. I'm not sure exactly what to do with that, but it's hard not to notice it.
Yeah, I see your point, although I think it's valid in the case of New Orleans.
He could've answered it
True enough. Every answer at a press conference can't be one for the ages, right? I guess I'm just sympathetic to the sort of no-win position Obama was put in by the question. He has to try and quickly hit all the right notes, to sound compassionate without overpromising or creating unrealistic expectations.
It's always tragic to me to see people in the aftermath of some trauma and perceive that nothing short of 100% restoration could possibly make them whole, and also to know that anything like 100% restoration is just impossible.
Yeah, I mean the error isn't really that severe--I probably
overreacted when I first wrote it, but it is something he's going to have to watch out for. I ado agreee that it's unfair place unrealistic expectations on him, or anyone.
I think Obama's feeling
I think Obama's feeling snowed by the sheer numbers of big problems the Bush Administration either created or made worse, every one of which needs serious attention if the US isn't to face serious trouble down the road. He said in one speech he'd counted seven. But, I think that's why he's had to go slow on the gay rights he'd originally been hoping to solve earlier. He's certainly sore on that point, and that's why he answered this question sorely.