So if nothing else, that’s the good side of all this…we’ve had a slap across the face followed by a dash of cold water, and hopefully we’ll start taking this s**t seriously.

Well put LF. A very reasonable and thoughtful comment and it’s much appreciated.

I didn’t think it was a bad speech, but I do think we’re in for a rough ride due to some strict ideological preferences of his administration.

So perhaps the ideology should be put aside when something as catastrophic as Hurricane Katrina happens? Supply side economics “works” when business is booming, but maybe we need to revisit more of WPA model when entire cities are wiped off our map.

Agreed?

I agree that the engagement of the private sector is a good way to apply conservative principles to the effort. I’m glad to hear there will be oversight on the spending, and hope those inspectors general live up to my expectations.

I happen to think that there are a lot of wonderful opportunities presented here for the taking by both our government and the general populace.

First off, this is going to be expensive. $200B is already earmarked. No matter how efficiently the money is applied, if it comes in underbudget with all the projects completed, the rest of the money WILL be spent, somehow, on something.

Second, this is a geat opportunity to practice some real fiscal discipline, which we haven’t seen evidence of in the better part of a decade. The cost of this should be offset by trimming the fat out of other spending bills, but I have zero faith in that happening. Every Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, St. Louis Rain Forest, Goth Culture Prevention Program and Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere is going to be defended tooth-and-nail. As was referenced in another post on this site via Andrew Sullivan, the Republicans are only fiscally conservative when they’re in the minority, and the Democrats have never been known to be so. A President with backbone could make this happen and take the Congress to task for pork on every bill from here until the end of his term, but Bush hasn’t displayed this type of backbone in the last five years, and I have little faith he will do so in the next three.

Next, while Bush did say all the right things about taking responsibility on the federal level, he also very gently expressed that municipalities and states are partners in this overall preparedness. As you could probably decipher from my moniker, this is of utmost importance to me. I hope that the general populace becomes more engaged in their local/regional preparedness readiness, as the Department of Homeland Security concurrently engages all the major cities in making their disaster plans viable and workable. These things need to be more than just a piece of paper that local officials point at to show that they’ve taken this seriously. And while the disasters of 9/11 and Katrina were totally different in scope, people have been able to witness what happens when you have competent officials in place, and what happens when you don’t.

This also segues into holding our federal officials accountable in looking out for their constituents, aside from bringing home the pork. First and foremost among this is Bush’s tragic mistake of appointing unqualified (or at least UNDERqualified) Michael Brown as head of FEMA. But our representation in Congress let us down on that, too, and should not be let off the hook. Just imagine if they had taken that confirmation as seriously as they take Supreme Court nominations. And actually looked for at the leadership qualifications of the nominee to an executive position, rather than just the ideology. Nobody there cared, few enough even showed up, and most of the questions were submitted in background. He was rubber-stamped, and an average guy who seemed to do okay on smaller-scale disasters was allowed to be in-place as the point-man during the worst natural disaster in recent memory. Our representation in Washington failed us in that respect.

I’m guilty as well, and not necessarily casting stones. I couldn’t tell you when Brown was nominated, when he had his confirmation, and even if I did, I couldn’t have cared less at the time. Same goes for my mayor and my governor at the lower levels…while I paid more attention to them, it was never through the prism of how they were going to act and lead during a crisis, since at the time the only real public model for such were Pataki and Giuliani, and it was kind of a given that everybody was of their caliber under pressure.

So if nothing else, that’s the good side of all this…we’ve had a slap across the face followed by a dash of cold water, and hopefully we’ll start taking this s**t seriously.