tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949695397805914430.post1854866153752686237..comments2023-04-12T08:14:37.935-04:00Comments on Colored Demos:: Will Haiti be Obama's KatrinaLuis Fuentes-Rohwerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09915435038828190903noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949695397805914430.post-80584495981375116102010-01-22T12:22:37.665-05:002010-01-22T12:22:37.665-05:00Really like this post. I also like your article on...Really like this post. I also like your article on CNN about calling Haitians looters.Nzingahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07255915875659493005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949695397805914430.post-27744302811461281972010-01-21T23:08:21.179-05:002010-01-21T23:08:21.179-05:00Katrina was not Bush's fault or failing. Consi...Katrina was not Bush's fault or failing. Consider the proper emergency response, Local-->State-->Federal resources. With 9/11 we had no forewarning, yet the emergency response was Local (FDNY, NYPD), State, then Federal. <br />Then you have Katrina where there was plenty of FOREWARNING that this was a CAT 5 hurricane, yet the ultra-incompetent New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin let that whole parking lot full of school buses sit there, and had no evacuation plan prepared, the just as incompetent Governor at the time also had no game plan, but since it was all black residents who didn't heed the warning somehow it became Bush's fault. You wanted the complete opposite response Federal-->State-->Local. Katrina was preventable, Haiti was not. Don't compare the two, unless you're obsessed with skin color.KareemUpInThemGutshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16487787921110898820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949695397805914430.post-91121121946417438192010-01-21T20:13:51.393-05:002010-01-21T20:13:51.393-05:00The Haitian relief effort is not the responsibilit...The Haitian relief effort is not the responsibility of President Obama's. It is the world's. Certainly, the U.S. and French and maybe even the Canadian governments' response should be disproportionately large given the role and the presence of the Haitian Diaspora in these countries but rightfully, it is a global obligation to relieve the suffering of the Haitian people. Should we hold President Obama and his administration responsible for the slow response? Perhaps, to some degree. I have not looked at any government memos or transcripts yet to determine how long it took for his administration to respond.But certainly his administration have responded in a more timely and coordinated manner than the Bush Administration did to Katrina. More importantly, there are no Michael D. Brown serving as Undersecretary of FEMA. More importantly as a pragmatist, as you have correctly identified him, Haiti is not one of his main priorities: the economy, the two wars, terrorism take precedence. Does President Obama feel a special empathy as a black man seeing a people of African descent suffer so? Perhaps but as a pragmatist, I would argue that his priorities will not and cannot change. Lionel B.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13153788587251235041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949695397805914430.post-20620344594051308632010-01-19T08:41:42.746-05:002010-01-19T08:41:42.746-05:00I too share your sentiments about Obama. I believ...I too share your sentiments about Obama. I believe he is as competent as any of the other candidates in the 2008 election but I did not think he was the Nation's savior. He came into this job with many serious issues facing Americans including an economy in the tank, foreign relations in tatters, and an education system failing. Broader issues like the environment and health care pressing as well. But in my opinion unlike Bush with New Orleans, Obama comes at Haiti from a place of recognition and appreciation. <br /><br />Although Bush seemed appropriate, I did not have a sense that he could appreciate the plight of the common man. Looking back at his (Bush) Administration, it seemed to me opportunities to salvage New Orleans, a major city in the United States, were clearly missed. Maybe Bush could not see the issue here were not as simple as black and white. <br /><br /> As soon as Obama was aware of the quake in Haiti, he created a plan and put people in place to act. His urgency of the issues spurred many Americans to respond in both dollars and sweat. <br /><br />It is easy as observer to form opinions about our leaders but unless the media was portraying Bush wrongly, it seems to me Bush was not plugged in his last years. It makes me wonder how Bush would have responded to Haiti had he been president.res1gnedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13211629705252213006noreply@blogger.com