MSNBC: Bush says relief efforts are ‘not acceptable’

[jbooma]

Looks like we are not the only ones not happy about this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9157866/

WASHINGTON - President Bush, facing blistering criticism for his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, said Friday "the results are not acceptable" and pledged to bolster relief efforts with a personal trip to the Gulf Coast.

"We'll get on top of this situation," Bush said, "And we're going to help the people that need help."

He spoke on the White House grounds just before boarding his presidential helicopter, Marine One, with Homeland Security Department secretary Michael Chertoff to tour the region. The department, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been accused of responding sluggishly to the deadly hurricane.

"There's a lot of aid surging toward those who've been affected. Millions of gallons of water. Millions of tons of food. We're making progress about pulling people out of the Superdome," the president said.

For the first time, however, he stopped defending his administration's response and criticized it. "A lot of people are working hard to help those who've been affected. The results are not acceptable," he said. "I'm heading down there right now."

A closer look

Bush hoped that his tour of the hurricane-ravaged states would boost the spirits of increasingly desperate storm victims and their tired rescuers, and his visit was aimed at tamping down the ever-angrier criticism that he has engineered a too-little, too-late response.

Four days after Katrina made landfall in southeastern Louisiana, Bush was to get a second, closer look at the devastation wrought by the storm’s 145 mph winds and 25-foot storm surge in an area stretching from just west of New Orleans to Pensacola, Fla. In all, there are 90,000 square miles under federal disaster declaration.

In Mobile, Ala., the president was to get a briefing on the damage, followed by a helicopter survey of areas along the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana coasts. He was to walk through hard-hit neighborhoods in Biloxi, Miss.

New Orleans center avoided

But Bush was avoiding an in-person visit to the worst areas of New Orleans, mostly drowned in rank floodwaters and descending in many areas into lawlessness as desperate residents await rescue or even just food and water. Instead, the president was taking an aerial tour of the city and making an appearance at the airport several miles from the center of town.

Friday’s trip follows a 35-minute flyover of the region he took Wednesday aboard Air Force One. as he headed back to Washington from his Texas ranch.

While the president was working his way along the coast, his wife, Laura, was scheduled to be nearby in Lafayette, La. Mrs. Bush was to visit the Cajundome arena to console people who took shelter there.

Amid the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, Bush has other problems besides the hurricane: Gasoline prices have soared past $3 a gallon in some places, and support is ebbing for the war in Iraq.

So Bush has tried to respond to Katrina in a way that evokes the national goodwill he cultivated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — and that does not recall the criticism his father, former President Bush, endured after Hurricane Andrew slammed Florida in 1992.

But he began facing questions about his leadership in the crisis almost immediately. New Orleans officials, in particular, were enraged about what they said was a slow federal response.

“They don’t have a clue what’s going on down there,” Mayor Ray Nagin told WWL-AM Thursday night.

FEMA overwhelmed

Seeking to deflect the criticism, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, asserted earlier Friday: “In this catastrophic event, everything that we had pre-positioned and ready to go became overwhelmed immediately after the storm.”

Though he cut his August stay at his Texas ranch short by two days to return to Washington, some said that Bush should not have waited until two days after the storm hit to do so.

The president and his aides have repeatedly rattled off specifics about the massive federal response effort under way, from Bush’s personal donation to the number of tarps delivered to a $10.5 billion request in emergency aid from Congress to the 28,000 troops sent to the region to help with security and rescues. Some people say the federal government could do more, or do it more quickly, if so many National Guard troops hadn’t been sent to Iraq.

Also, there already are questions about funding for the Army Corps of Engineers’ part in managing the levees that protected New Orleans, especially given years of warnings that the network of barriers was inadequate for the largest storms.

The White House on Thursday made available top Corps officials to assure reporters that cuts to the agency’s budget did not cause the Katrina disaster. Even though the administration has chronically cut back on the Corps’ own requests for funding — including two key New Orleans-area projects — White House officials trumpeted the administration’s support for the Corps.

“Flood control has been a priority of this administration from Day One,” McClellan said.

[Kilmer17]

Im sure he'll get bashed for this too.

[Lone Star Skin Fan]

Oh, he boards a helicopter almost a week later and that makes him Mr. Humanity?

Rove told him he needs to make an appearance.

[portisizzle]

Sounds like Bush and Chrome agree.......... :laugh:

[flyingtiger1013]

Joe Scarborough ripped into him, the administration and the Lousiana state government last night. He was pissed. Him and his wife and church drove over from Pensacola to deliver food and water and they said they had only seen 1 police car and no federal help at all.

[Kilmer17]

That must mean there was only 1 cop helping out then.

GD Bush should have been on a boat in the Gulf with a net stopping the hurricane in the first place.

[portisizzle]

Oh, he boards a helicopter almost a week later and that makes him Mr. Humanity?

Rove told him he needs to make an appearance.

That is a bull response.

Sounds like damned if he does damned if he does not. He is the leader of the free world. He should be there. Oh, and when should Bush have made an appearance? A day before the hurricane??? He is the President of the United States for crying out loud. He will appear when he can and wants.......

[Destino]

GD Bush should have been on a boat in the Gulf with a net stopping the hurricane in the first place.

:laugh: :laugh:

[jbooma]

I do want to say we are talking about an entire city here, not just blocks, not just neighborhoods but a city. There are not many huge large cities close to NO because of where it is at. I would be curious where is the closest base there??

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

That must mean there was only 1 cop helping out then.

GD Bush should have been on a boat in the Gulf with a net stopping the hurricane in the first place.

At the least he should've been down there Monday night with a water pump trying to clean out the flooding.

[Ball Coach]

I think it's important that he actually says that the results are 'not acceptable', not the effort.

There is a huge difference.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Definitley a damn'd if you do, damn'd if you dont situation

[chomerics]

First thing I have agreed with Bush on in a long time. He needs to lead us through this crisis, that is his job. I was more pissed when I saw him on the Today show yesterday saying everything will be fine. At least he now realizes the dire situation this has become.

[GrimReefa]

So if he says it's unacceptable that clears him from responsibility, right?

[portisizzle]

So if he says it's unacceptable that clears him from responsibility, right?

He is no more responsible for this than you or I.

This disaster equates to a nuclear weapon being dropped in the middle of Bourbon Street. When this happened, nothing good was going to come of it.

This is a tradegy, not a political talking point.

[Art Monk Fan]

I don't find the President's response surprising for two reasons:

1. The disaster response IS unacceptable.

2. Conservatives always think government responses are unacceptable, it's the major problem with letting the government solve all your problems: it's big, slow, and inneffective.

[SkinsHokieFan]

I don't find the President's response surprising for two reasons:

1. The disaster response IS unacceptable.

2. Conservatives always think government responses are unacceptable, it's the major problem with letting the government solve all your problems: it's big, slow, and inneffective.

Bingo :applause:

And the response here clearly proves point number 2. People are trying their best, the institutions we have set up wont allow it to happen

[jbooma]

He is no more responsible for this than you or I.

This disaster equates to a nuclear weapon being dropped in the middle of Bourbon Street. When this happened, nothing good was going to come of it.

This is a tradegy, not a political talking point.

This might be wrong but we need this type of experience so we can learn in the future about what we did right or wrong. This might turn into a blesssing in disguise in years if we do ever have to worry about a sucessful terrorist attack in a major city with nuclear device.

[jbooma]

Bingo :applause:

And the response here clearly proves point number 2. People are trying their best, the institutions we have set up wont allow it to happen

Yet for those wanting to get rid of government I haven't seen big business or heck if the locals doing anything either. It is easy to blame government but if it wasnt' there then what?

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

First thing I have agreed with Bush on in a long time. He needs to lead us through this crisis, that is his job. I was more pissed when I saw him on the Today show yesterday saying everything will be fine. At least he now realizes the dire situation this has become.

Why does he need to be leading us? He should be down there leading the people in the Gulf Coast region, but what do the rest of us need leadership for? We're just spectators, there isn't that vulnerability like there was by being attacked by Al Qaeda. What we need is people to step up and call for donations, like these concerts being planned. That's not Bush's job though.

And I'm not trying to make a homeric Bushie defense here, I think he should've been done there yesterday, at the latest. But I really don't feel the need to be hearing much from him right now though, other than from down there while reporters are following him around, taking quotes and soundbytes. He shouldn't be up here speaking to us, because the people in the Gulf Coast region can't hear his words and there the ones that need to be hearing them.

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

Yet for those wanting to get rid of government I haven't seen big business or heck if the locals doing anything either. It is easy to blame government but if it wasnt' there then what?

Exactly, it may be slow, frustrating, and inefficient, but situations like this are what we need the government for.

[Spaceman Spiff]

First thing I have agreed with Bush on in a long time. He needs to lead us through this crisis, that is his job. I was more pissed when I saw him on the Today show yesterday saying everything will be fine. At least he now realizes the dire situation this has become.

Just gotta wonder...when was the last time you agreed with him on something?

[visionary]

Uh oh, Bush is changing his mind and will take a ground tour of New Orleans too.

He has some balls...he might not have htme by the time he gets back out though...if he does.

It would have been a lot better to go through ealrier in the week, at this point it might really upset people.

Still, if it were me I would probably do it too, though I would have insisted in going earlier, no matter what the security people said. Then again there is a lot of stuff that he had to coordinate from the whitehouse that he could not do in New Orleans, and he might have gotten in the way and sidetracked the authorities inadvertantly.

The Alabama Governor is kissing FEMA's ass right now, with Bush and the FEMA guy right next to him.

Bush has a look on his face like he's not sure he really believes what the guy is saying.

Now the Mississippi Governor is talking.

[boobiemiles]

Something needs to be done. You would expect a leader to take the inniciative and prompt some form of aid that can relieve the situation. It's effecting the whole country in one way or another.

[Art Monk Fan]

Exactly, it may be slow, frustrating, and inefficient, but situations like this are what we need the government for.

Agreed. Just don't be surprised when it's slow, frustrating, and inefficient -- or when I don't want it in charge of every minute detail of my life because of the fact.