[Cerek]

Originally Posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar In SW's defense, it's understandable to be a bit sensitive to attacks on the current administration. From 2000-2005ish, you couldn't say ANYTHING bad about Bush without hearing "THIS IS A TIME OF CRISIS AND YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT THE PRESIDENT BECAUSE YOU STAND BY HIM." The pundits who were screaming that not too long ago seem to have forgotten that. I'm not a fan. But Fox News has pretty much conditioned an irritation response in a lot of us. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that this isn't some artificial "issue" cooked up by Murdoch and Company. This is an actual crisis, and if the admin's not up to snuff, why shouldn't they be called out on it?

OH Please - like that actually stopped ANYBODY from ranting about Bush.

If Bush were still in the White House, the same people calling Obama's actions "cautious, with good reason" would be screaming "Cowboy Bush is at it again. Doing everything he can to protect his oil buddies". We've had offers from other countries to help with the clean-up. They've been turned down. If Bush did that, it would be touted as "proof" that he is an egocentric idiot intent on alienating the rest of the world. But since it's Obama, he must have a good reason for being so cautious. LOL! Personally, I think it's humorously entertaining to watch those who slammed Bush for 8 years to suddenly find the roles reversed and watch the reactions when it's their boy in the White House that is being criticized.

Oh, one other side not, The New Orleans Katrina F***-Up can be laid squarely on the shoulders of the New Orleans mayor and LA Governor. As JD correctly pointed out, Bush actually declared most of the coastal regions of LA, MS, and AL a disaster area 2-3 days BEFORE Katrina ever made landfall. But the federal government cannot just "take over" emergency operations in any state because that would violate the state's sovereignty. The state has to ask for or accept the aid offered. The governor chose not to do that. It was known for at least 3 days that Katrina absolutely would hit New Orleans. What did the mayor do about that information? Not much. Did he start evacuations or stockpiling emergency supplies? No. He and the governor decided to wait and see what would happen and they got fubarred. I do give the mayor credit for using the Superdome as an emergency shelter. THAT showed some quick thinking. The only problem was that he shouldn't have HAD to do any "quick thinking", because he had at least a week (or more) to prepare for the situation.