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Local officials, not Bush, deserve the blame for New Orleans breakdown: A response to our new liberal blogger
Thursday September 15, 2005 | 13:39:17 344 words, 3104 views
The Democrats have William J. Clinton. TravelGolf.com readers have William K. Wolfrum. Wolfrum, if you haven’t noticed, is our new blogger with the picture that looks much more fake than Rebel Blogger’s. Like anyone has that much hair in real life! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed William K.’s blog on taking the politics out of golf. Because I love it when writers do the exact opposite of what they tell the readers to do. Wolfrum threw this line into his “non-politics blog": The U.S. currently has a president that’s down a World Trade Center and New Orleans in just about five years. Like 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina would not have happened if Al Gore was in office. Good one, William K. Look, there are a lot of dumb things President Bush has done. Biking with a Sports Illustrated reporter rather than meeting with the mother of a dead solider for one. But it’s ridiculous to place the breakdowns that followed Hurricane Katrina’s devastation on the White House. Or President Bush’s love for speed golf. New Orleans’ government was broke long before Mother Nature arrived. When more than half your police force desserts in a time of crisis that’s on the local officials, specifically the mayor, rather than Bush. Can you ever imagine that happening in New York City? No, because a structure and standard’s been set up and demanded long before catastrophe hits. New Orleans had a law and order problem long before the water rolled through the streets. It’s long had one of the highest murder rates in the country. It’s long had morale problems with its police force. When I first visited New Orleans, there was a shooting on Bourbon Bookmark/Search this post with:
Comments:
Comment from: Hoyt Decker [Visitor]
Interesting stuff. Lots to debate here (even though there's nary a mention of Michelle Wie). To get things rolling, I don't see much of a parallel between the 9/11 attacks on two buildings in NYC and the 99% devastation of an entire city. BELIEVE me, I'm no fan of the N.O.P.D., but in judging those cops' reactions, it's important to remember that most, if not all, had just lost their homes. Doesn't make it right necessarily ..... but understandable. Now, can I imagine NYC cops deserting in a time of crisis? If you're talking about a crisis on par with what happened in New Orleans, yes I can. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
2005-09-15 @ 14:38
Comment from: William K. Wolfrum [Visitor] · http://www.travelgolf.com/blogs/william.wolfrum
Valid points, Chris. But, hey, Bush is president and these things happened on his watch.
But I would never say that the hurricane would not have hit New Orleans had someone other than Bush been president. But let me just say this: Had someone else been president, there's no way that hurricane would have hit NO. Seriously, however, being as hurricanes rarely appear spontaneously and can actually be tracked for days before they hit land, the federal response was just shameful. Especially when you take into account the fact that many have spoken up over the past few years, or written that New Orleans was a massive disaster waiting to happen. Basically, the intelligence was there and correct, it was just ignored. As for what would have happened had this been NY or some other city, that can only be conjecture. You just can't accurately predict the outcome of an unprecendented event, which is what occurred in NO. Regardless of anybody's stance, however, I know everyone hopes for the best for the dislocated Americans involved, and that New Orleans will re-emerge as the great city it's always been. And kudos to Tim McDonald for working overtime to try and keep people updated on what's become of the once-illustrious Gulf Coast golfing scene.
2005-09-15 @ 15:18
Comment from: Chris Baldwin [Member]
You call that a blog war response, Wolfrum? You're making me lean toward the hunters' side. All right, back to calling McDonald old and Jennifer Mario a Michelle Wie lunatic.
2005-09-15 @ 18:53
Comment from: RonMon [Visitor] · http://www.buffalogolfer.com
1. I thought that only Mr. Wilhelm had claim to the name Hoyt. Good to know there are two, and that Mr. Decker is as wise as Wilhelm was crafy. Excellent point on the NOPD and the loss of, well, everything.
2. I remember when Payne Stewart started to expound on the racial implications of the PGA at Shoal Creek. Fuzzy Zoeller clamped a hand over his mouth and essentially told the media to not come to pro golfers for social or political commentary. Someone ought to clamp a hand over the keyboards of Baldwin and Wolfrum. Just golf, boys, that's it. 3. Al Gore would not have seen a second term had he emerged victorious in 2000. However, he would have invented a big net to ... GOD, I can't stop myself from thinking of jokes that take advantage of misfortune and tragedy.
2005-09-15 @ 22:21
Comment from: Shana [Visitor]
Yet another reason to hate you Baldwin... I'd love for you to say all this BS to the people who were outside the convention center waiting for food , water, and medicine for more than 4 days. You might as well spit on the elderly, and babies who died waiting for help. Not that I'm surprised you believe this- I fully expected you to feel a kinship with someone as dumb and incompetent as George Bush.
2005-09-16 @ 16:26
Comment from: Paul Szeto [Visitor]
Maybe what the President FAILED to do was to realize his FEMA chief had little to no disaster managment experience.
Sure, the Governor and Mayor are pretty incompetent, but The President hardly distinguished himself in the competency department. But hey - he did cut his 30-day vacation short by 2 days to do a flyover of New Orleans.....
2005-09-19 @ 14:49
Comment from: Bill From PA [Visitor]
In 1972 my neck of Pa got hit by Agnes, once a hurricane, then a tropical storm. The Susquehanna River turned into a 6 mile wide lake, drownig my home, the hall my wedding reception was to be held in and thousandes of business and homes. I returned to my parent's any my home as soon as the water receded. National Guard troops were at every major corner and intersection that first night. Seeing my flashlight in our window one knocked on my door to see if I belonged there. There was near zero looting. Food banks sprung up immediately, trailer parks (temporary) were created to house the homeless and every household was GIVEN $5000 to start repairs. This in Pennsylvania, not a hot bed for hurricanes. Nothing was more of a surprise than this disaster and the response put this government to shame. Don't tell me Americans shouldn't expect this from the Feds. Bush screwed up, big time, first by putting incompetent flunkies in FEMA and secondly by vacationing though the most shameful, internationally embarrasing episode I can remember.
2005-09-19 @ 21:01
Comment from: Cary [Visitor]
Hey Baldie,
Stick to Wie bashing. Cause your grade school intellect prevents you from writing a thoughtful, logical and persuasive article on moderately complicated subjects. It's embarassing when you try to.
2005-09-21 @ 13:30
Comment from: Mateo [Visitor]
Bush cut New Orleans levee budget by more than $50 million three years ago, even as the army corpse of engineers was practically begging for an additional $100 million. His taking two days to respond to Katrina and telling disgraced FEMA head Michael Brown "You're doing a heckuva' job, Brownie," is just more evidence that he's not in contact with reality. He's just like you, Chris, which I guess explains your pathetic admiration for the worst President in American history. I've always been a conservative, before Georgie boy arrived, that is, so don't try to write this one off as "another liberal hating Bush basher." That lame ad hominem attack is as weak now as it's ever been. Get a clue. Wake up. Stay out of politics; you don't know a damned thing about it.
2005-09-29 @ 23:52 Leave a comment: |
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