The Political Spin of Katrina

The Bush Administration has taken us into a war under false pretenses. Our resources have been stretched to a limit that seems to have complicated our ability to respond to domesticate crisis and a simple examination of current conditions throw into sharp contrast the current government’s failings.

People have died and may still be dying waiting for help in the aftermath of Katrina. Many rural areas of Mississippi and Louisiana have yet to receive significant aid. In the meantime a plethora of officials, local, state, and national play the “blame game” that the Administration says should be avoided at all costs. The Administration itself is treading political water, strategizing to remain viable. A stream of its operatives have headed south to reassure those effected by Katrina that everything’s going to be alright. The situation, an absolute failure in planning for a storm whose consequences were completely predictable, is uncomfortably reminiscent of the Administration’s failure to plan for “post-war” Iraq.

Where does the buck stop? Who accepts responsibility? The endless spinning, the desire of officials to survive politically at any cost while bodies still wait to be collected is an obscenity committed against the victims of this disaster. When do the needs of the people come before political expediency?

Do we need an independent council to investigate? We’d better do something to figure out what the hell went wrong and then we really need to fix it.