Bush Legacy Tour

By now, most Americans know the tragic story of Hurricane Katrina – its devastating impact on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and the deplorable response to the storm by the Bush Administration.

During the storm and its aftermath:

• President Bush celebrated John McCain’s birthday at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix during his month-long vacation in Texas
• Vice President Cheney was fly fishing in Jackson, Wyoming
• Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice went to see “Spamalot!,” the Monty Python Broadway musical, and
• Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who oversaw FEMA, flew to Atlanta to attend a conference on the avian bird flu.

In their absense, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina was handled by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Michael “Brownie” Brown, who had no disaster response experience. Prior to his appointment to FEMA in 2001, Brown spent twelve years as the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association – a position he was eventually fired from.

The Bush Administration’s inaction and incompetence prior to and after the storm made an already tragic situation even worse. A 900 page investigative report by the Senate, called “Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared,” stated:

"The suffering that continued in the days and weeks after the storm passed did not happen in a vacuum; instead, it continued longer that it should have because of -- and was in some cases exacerbated by -- the failure of government at all levels to plan, prepare for and respond aggressively to the storm."

The Bush administration stood idly by while thousands of Americans lost everything -- including 1,836 people who lost their lives. Two years after Katrina, 213,000 people evacuated from New Orleans still had not been able to return home.

In August 2007, The Times Picayune reported that compared to pre-Katrina conditions:

• There are 42 percent fewer hospital beds available
• There are only 50 percent as many schools open; and
• A shocking 80 percent of the levee system is still not meeting its original authorized height.

Some have labeled Katrina “Our National Shame.” The more accurate title is “President Bush’s Shame.”