President Bush: Cheerleader-in-Chief?

President Bush assures hurricane victims that the cavalry is on the way – as his Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, director of the government’s relief efforts, looks on…

Yesterday, President Bush made his first address to the nation on the ravages of Hurricane Katrina from the splendor of his rose garden at the White House. But he sounded more like a cheerleader than a commander as he recited his list of items including bottled water, canned goods, cots and band aids that were being convoyed to the affected areas. Because, though such emergency supplies are needed (and private donors and NGOs are way ahead of the government in this regard), I expected Bush to announce bolder and more sustainable initiatives (with all due respect to his Daddy and former President Clinton who are about to head out on a national begging campaign on behalf of hurricane victims.)

For example, instead of alluding to the Marshall Plan (but doing little to emulate it), Bush should order FEMA and the Army Core of Engineers to enlist all of the men (and willing women) who are now homeless and jobless in a massive federal works programme to help clean up and rebuild their city. And, if that means redeploying some Army engineers from their suicide mission in Iraq, then much the better!

Indeed, instead of a Marshall Plan – with its marshal law implications – Bush should seek guidance from FDR’s Tennessee Valley Project which did for the areas surrounding the Tennessee River Valley much of what is now needed for New Orleans. Moreover, such a project would provide jobs and a sense of purpose for the thousands who, in their deteriorating states of anomie, might resort to all kinds of desperate measures to cope.

Therefore, to give these dislocated people hope beyond the Houston Astrodome , Bush should order tent cities to be set up outside New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi from which they can become gainfully employed in a noble project with vested interests!

Besides, what self-respecting man wants to sit around in a football stadium with women and children commiserating about their sudden misfortunes? (Just-a-thought!)

Note: Am I the only person who finds it ironical, if not fallacious, that the Americans are demanding that Iraqis resolve their lingering concerns about the practical implications of Federalism – within months – when, even centuries later, they seem utterly clueless about the relative duties and reponsibilities of federal and local officials under this system of government?

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