OPINION & EDITORIAL
An open letter to President Bush
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Also by Jason Ebin:
- Students must protest military policy (March 6, 2006)
- Sensenbrenner wrong on immigration (March 27, 2006)
- Remember Reagan as school year comes to close (April 11, 2006)
- Media paint flowery picture (April 17, 2006)
- Students can help bring change in Darfur (May 1, 2006)
Related Stories:
- Domestic readiness takes backseat to foreign entanglements (September 14, 2005)
- Help for hurricane victims stuck in Iraq (September 15, 2005)
- Rebuilding should go beyond houses (September 21, 2005)
- Jindal: Beacon of hope for '08 (October 23, 2007)
- Additional aid from students needed (September 19, 2005)
by Jason Ebin
Monday, September 4, 2006
Dear Mr. President:
About a year ago, not all that far from where you were vacationing at the time, Hurricane Katrina wiped out much of Mississippi and Louisiana. In particular, New Orleans, one of my favorite cities, was completely destroyed.
I hope that this isn't news to you. I don't think it is, but it is really hard to tell what you know and don't know. I mean, I hear you talking about a lot of stuff, but you really don't make sense to me because you say one thing but it seems you are always doing something else.
Going back to last year about this time, I understand that the timing of Katrina was bad because the hurricane hit while you were vacationing. I know I hate it when my vacation gets screwed up, so I imagine that you really hate it too. I bet you didn't even want to deal with Katrina until you had to go back to Washington, much like I don't want to deal with professors who are giving me homework two weeks before school starts. It just doesn't feel fair.
Too bad Katrina had to be one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded. I also hear a lot of people saying that it is the worst natural disaster ever in the United States. I have even heard estimates of over $100 billion in damage. Even for you, that's got to be a lot of money, right?
But, going back to your vacation — and gosh I love vacations too — I don't blame you at all for being on vacation. Plus, being the leader of the United States must be a really stressful job. I'm sure you really need your time off to relax.
When I'm on vacation, I just love to read. Most recently, I read a stellar account of the hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980 that President Carter actually seemed to deal with really well — they all lived — despite the fact that the way he handled it got him canned. Come to think of it, I bet you have to thank Mr. Carter, because without his perceived failures, the Americans probably would have reelected him, which means that Mr. Reagan would not have been president, your daddy wouldn't have been vice-president and both your dad's presidency and your own might have belonged to someone else. Maybe.
Going back to your vacation last year, I'm confused, yet again, and I'm hoping that you can explain to me one thing: when you were vacationing in Texas last year about this time, did you or anyone else in your family or your staff, or anyone you might be around or talk to on the phone, just happen to mention that perhaps you should turn on the television? Because, if you saw even one second of television this time last year, there would have been no possible way for you not to know that the people of New Orleans needed your help.
Perhaps Mr. Rove was on vacation, too, and he gave you orders not to disturb him; I understand that you can't make decisions without him. But, don't you think you could have at least broken protocol just once? I mean, Mr. Rove does work for you, doesn't he?
Instead of taking the opportunity to cultivate your image as a leader, you made a big mistake, and countless people died. At a time when the United States could have used Katrina to show people around the world how great a democracy can be when faced with a disaster, you didn't even step up to the plate; at a time when the United States needed to show people around the world that capitalism does not mean leaving the poor behind, you fumbled; and, at a time when the United States needed to give people around the world reasons to want to be Americans, you shamefully protected your own ass, giving the world a thousand reasons to reject everything American.
A year later, the bodies are still being counted, and you still have a chance to turn things around. If last August was the first inning, you are now in the bottom of the sixth, still down big time, but on your side you have the best players in the world waiting to get into the game, and you've got the heart of a city, still faintly beating, waiting to be resurrected and returned back where she belongs: among Americas finest.
Jason S. Ebin (jasonebin@aol.com) is a third-year law student.
Anonymous (September 4, 2006 @ 6:59pm):
Dear Mr. Nagin,
About a year ago, in the heart of where you were working, Hurricane Katrina wiped out much of New Orleans
That must have been tough. Maybe you lost power. If you did, I hope you had some candles and matches. I know I hate being in the dark.
But I am sort of curious: even if your television was out because of the storm, didn't you notice that your people needed your help? Didn't you think of all those school busses you left behind in the city - sitting ducks like boats in Pearl Harbor?
I know you care about your friends. That's why you let them cut in line to get out of town.
But why was there a line? And why did it only form nearly a week after the storm?
I know New Orleans is a big city and even though you are in charge of all of it, you can't possibly know every square inch. But have you ever gone to a football game? An auto show?
Because I was hoping you'd know about the Superdome and Convention Center. Those are the large "shelters" you opened a little over a year ago, where people were trapped in their own feces for days on end and where people turned to such a Lord of the Flies-style of life that rape and suicide became sort of normal.
Yeah, about those shelters: what exactly was your plan for them again?
But, hey, listen: that's all behind us now. Today it's about moving forward. And somehow you got re-elected this year. So it looks like you want to sign up for helping with that task.
But what are you doing to help? Why doesn't your city have a master plan yet? It can't be so tough -- Mississippi and Alabama both have them for their hurricane-affected areas. I even hear business is starting to come back to those places. But not to New Orleans so much. Apparently there aren't even as many people in your city as you keep telling the media there is - the US Postal Service (a group pretty good with numbers) seems to think you're overstating by about 33%.
Also, why do you need federal money to rebuild? I know you were so incompetent that FEMA was your only lifeline a year ago. And that's fine for search and rescue. But when was the last time the federal government was asked to pay for private redevelopment? I'm pretty sure this is unprecedented on such a scale in the history of our young Republic.
Anyway, I know you're busy creating that "Chocolate city" full of people who the postal service can't find, working in places heavily subsidized by the taxpayers of America, so I'll let you go now.
But one last thing: When your city is in trouble, why do you keep looking to people over a thousand miles away in Washington, DC?
Thanks,
Victor Blake Marz
Anonymous (September 4, 2006 @ 8:09pm):
Yawn.
You libs really need to come up with some new material.
Anonymous (September 5, 2006 @ 11:01am):
can you please tell me something i haven't seen all over the liberal mainstream media the past week...
carter handled the iran hostage affair "really well..." so a failed rescue mission and the actual return of zero hostages is handling the situation "really well?" also, this was the beginning of terrorists and Iran seeing the US as "weak" as Carter gave into their demands. how can you possibly categorize his handling of the situation as a job well done?
