For the 'Excuse President,' the best defense is a good offense

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Sun, 4 Sep 2005 12:09:27 -0700 (PDT)

For the 'Excuse President,' the best defense is a good offense

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 04, 2005

For the 'Excuse President,' the best defense is a good offense

Posted 2:46 pm

 

At the end of the day, the Bush gang only knows how to run one play:

shun responsibility and blame someone else. It's about the only thing

the administration seems to do well.

 

Initially, the blame for the crisis in New Orleans was placed on the

local citizens who didn't have the resources to leave. Then, the blame

shifted half-heartedly to the media, as evidenced by Trent Lott's

claim the other day that the federal government has responded well to

the disaster, but people are being misled by reporters who only want

to focus on the negative.

 

Today, a new target emerged: blame state and local officials.

 

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact

for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials

said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of

emergency, the senior Bush official said.

 

" The federal government stands ready to work with state and local

officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, " White

House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. " The president will not let any

form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of

Louisiana. "

 

For the record, when a Bush aide told the Post that Blanco still had

not declared a state of emergency, he or she was lying. As Kevin Drum

noted, Blanco declared a state-level state of emergency on August 26,

asked Bush to declare a federal state of emergency a day later, which

the president did. Three days later, Hurricane Katrina arrived.

 

There are, it seems to me, two things to consider. The first is the

genuinely shameful attempt by the White House to lash out at others in

desperation, including demonstrably false claims. It's a bizarre

message they've spun for themselves: this is no time for finger

pointing, but have you noticed how much better we are than those local

folks?

 

The second is the tack Bush has always taken, even as governor: the

buck always stops elsewhere. Briefly during the presidential campaign,

John Kerry referred to Bush's first term as the " Excuse Presidency. "

It didn't catch on as a campaign catch-phrase, but it accurately

summarized so much of Bush's first term.

 

Slow economy? It's Enron's fault. No WMD in Iraq? It's the

intelligence community's fault. Job losses? Clinton's fault. Record

deficits? Osama bin Laden's fault. Health care crisis? Trial lawyers'

fault. Frayed international alliances? France's fault.

 

Nothing's changed. The hurricane crisis offered Bush yet another

opportunity to shoulder some responsibility and lead. I'm convinced he

simply doesn't know how. As a result, we hear blame assigned to

poverty-stricken families in New Orleans … and the media … and local

officials.

 

It's beyond shameful. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/