AND BLANCO MAKES THREE
Bush led the way, then New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin followed up and took responsibility for his Katrina-related failures. And now La. Governor Blanco is also accepting responsibility:
Echoing the words of President Bush a day earlier, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco took responsibility Wednesday for failures and missteps in the immediate response to Hurricane Katrina and pledged a united effort to rebuild areas ravaged by the storm."We all know that there were failures at every level of government: state, federal and local. At the state level, we must take a careful look at what went wrong and make sure it never happens again. The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility," Blanco told lawmakers in a special meeting of the Louisiana Legislature.
On Tuesday, Bush for the first time took responsibility for federal government mistakes in dealing with the hurricane and suggested the calamity raised questions about the government's ability to handle both natural disasters and terror attacks.
Blanco called Bush "a friend and partner" in the recovery effort. She described plans for a rebuilding effort that would span all levels of government but would be funded with all federal money.
Last time I checked, you don't accuse your "friend and partner" of genocide, but I suppose we'll all have to let bygones be bygones. If this conciliatory approach had been Blanco's attitude from day one, the nation would have been spared both the horror of watching a major city implode and the terrible accusations of neglect and worse that followed.
But it wasn't. It's likely that her new approach has something to do with revelations that she knew she hadn't called for federal troops even while she was telling the world that she had. Where I come from, that's called a lie. Bygones...
And while she accepts responsibility now, the fact is that she showed herself to be incompetent in a crisis. The people of Louisiana will deal with that fact in whatever way they see fit.
(thanks to Chris)