WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2007
On New Orleans, Not A Word From Bush
No Mention Of Hurricane Katrina Rebuilding Effort In State Of Union Address
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Bush Omitted Katrina Survivors
President Bush did not mention New Orleans in his State of the Union address. Armen Keteyian talks with angry Katrina survivors who feel the administration has forgotten about them.
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President Bush talks to workers of Betsy's Pancake House during his last visit to New Orleans, Aug. 29, 2006, to mark the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. (AP)
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In the president's State of the Union speech last year, delivered just five months after the disaster, the devastation merited only 156 words out of more than 5,400.
On Tuesday night, the president spoke for almost exactly as long before a joint session of Congress. But Katrina received not a single mention.
"At this time I almost broke my TV, knocked it off the stand," Chris Davis, told CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian. Davis, a Vietnam veteran, is one of the displaced residents from New Orleans now living near Baton Rouge, La.
"People were already feeling forgotten. I think this may potentially reinforce that," Toni Bankston, a mental health caseworker, told CBS News.
Officials in Louisiana were also disappointed by the oversight.
"The governor is supremely disappointed," said a spokeswoman for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. "The president's speech was promoted as focusing on his domestic priorities, yet we see where hurricane recovery is on his list. It's not even on the radar."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said, "With nearly 6,000 words about the nation's priorities, not one single word was devoted to the rebuilding and protection of affected areas of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. It was a glaring omission."
Republican Sen. David Vitter's criticism was more muted.
"I was disappointed somewhat," Vitter said, "but I didn't necessarily expect a significant mention primarily because the federal government has provided a great deal of funding and aid and because most of the hurdles we face are at the state level."
By contrast, in the days ahead of the president's address, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia compared the U.S. money being spent on Iraqi reconstruction with the fraction committed to the Gulf Coast rebuilding. And, chosen to give the Democratic response to Mr. Bush on Tuesday, Webb brought up the continuing struggle of Katrina victims right away, listing "restoring the vitality of New Orleans" just behind education and health care among his party's most pressing priorities, according to the text of his speech distributed in advance.
The disaster did rate one representative with a good seat for Mr. Bush's speech.
Craig Cuccia, co-founder of Reconcile New Orleans, was one of two dozen guests seated in first lady Laura Bush's box above the House chamber. Cuccia's nonprofit youth organization helps get kids off the streets and into the hospitality industry by giving them jobs and training at its Café Reconcile located in Central City, one of New Orleans' toughest neighborhoods.
Spared Katrina's widespread flooding, the restaurant was among the city's first businesses to reopen its doors and served emergency workers, first responders, construction crews and returning residents.
But Cuccia's presence at the State of the Union address had as much or more to do with Mrs. Bush's drive to help at-risk youth, particularly boys, stay out of gangs and other trouble. The first lady extended the invitation after meeting Cuccia on a visit to the cafe earlier this month.
Katrina's relative absence from the president's public radar screen is not new.
Seeking to recover from criticism of his initial reaction to the storm, the president focused intensively on the Gulf Coast in the weeks and months after Katrina hit. But that attention level quickly dropped off, and he hardly mentions the region now. His only visit there in the last eight months was to mark one year since the storm's strike in August.
"This anniversary is not an end. And so I come back to say that we will stand with the people of southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi until the job is done," he pledged then.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 52 CommentsNothing, so that's what they get!!
Main Entry: neo.con (ser.va.tive)
Pronunciation: 'nE-O-k&n
Function: noun or adjective
1 a : of or relating to a person or strategy of pretending
to follow traditional conservatism with little or no true interest
in such philosophy simply for personal, political or economic gain.
It has been such a mess that when a 'local'
contractor wanted a piece of the pie, he was squeezed out.
It exposed such a madness, that the 'way' the contracts are awarded had been 're-worked' to be more 'open' to everyone.
It is a 'mess' and it is a 'process'.
And that still doesn't address the needs of those missplaced or are wanting to go back.
Posted by slbmartin at 11:02 AM : Jan 24, 2007
Classic neoconthink. Spend the money (and blood) overseas where they can really make profit on it. I mean is anyone left that's so stupid as to think the money we spend on Iraq is actually going there? It's being laundered through there and is moving directly into the bank accounts of the oil companies and the war contractors. Iraq is not a war, it's a transfer of cash from the taxpayers into private hands. Billions of dollars worth at that. It's grand larceny on a historic and nauseating scale.
Harder to get away with that kind of theft in New Orleans, even for republicans. though they have managed to skim 100 billion or so, so they're doing alright there.
As for your connection, well ain't love grand! But please, get a room. The last thing anyone needs is a mental picture of conservatives mating. We have sleeping pills for that.
As for the comment:I agree with RandalDS in that bringing it up would just cause a lot more criticizm and reopen an old stabwound still in the president's side to the media once again. The media and democrats against Bush would pounce once again. It's probably best to keep the raw meat away from the hungry jeckels.
Jesus, can't these unpaid apologists/defenders of these lying, no-good-for-nothing republicans get a day job and stay off the internet for awhile? C'mon, take some evening classes at the local community college and challenge yourselves! Actually express your dumb-*** ideas in a real human environment where people can debate your nonsense.
In the meantime...
Let me clarify the facts to the ditto heads:
1. Bush and his gang are a bunch of Evildoers
2. They don't care about you unless you have a billion dollars
3. They don't care about your kids or about seniors- they don't have a billion dollars
4. They stole the election- twice
5. Yes, they did know about 911 before it happened
6. They will attack Iran, no matter what
7. They pay people in the press to write favorable stories about their misdeeds, they pay off just about anyone that will help them hide their evil-doing
8. Rush Limbaugh went to the Dominican Republic to *** with teenage girls and the ditto heads thought it was funny when Rush got caught with Viagra at airport security
And, enough about NO!
Where is Governor Blanco's responsibility for this state? At some point the federal government has to pass the torch. The leaders of Louisiana need to remove their hands from the deep pockets and pick up that torch.
BTW - ICF was paid $759 million to distribute the money. That's over six thousand dollars per possible applicant. And, Louisiana is a sitting on $1.6 billion in tax surplus that is projected to be $2.5 billion by the end of the next fiscal year. The state has the money to fix at least a few problems.
As for the sexual innuendo (they'll proably bleep s----l) get your mind out of the gutter, if you can. There is a virual orgasmic love fest between libs on this site. I was merely welcoming another voice of reason.
Fact remains, the Louisiana government is corrupt, always ways, always has been. Where did the money go? Did jefferson take it??
Posted by janem4 at 01:54 PM : Jan 24, 2007
Orgasmic love fest? I must have missed my invention and be blind at the same time. I just don't see it. personally I think you're probably just a bit oversensitive. Still it doesn't change the fact that you consistently cop a "Nah nah nah you're guys do it too!" every time someone points out cooperation on the right.
Posted by RandalDS at 03:07 PM : Jan 24, 2007
That would "corruption".
Posted by legendary240 at 03:57 PM : Jan 24, 2007
You really are a racist pig aren't you? had your white sheet and hood dry cleaned lately? Don't forget to age your wood for your burning cross well or you won't scare all of the ****...er...um...let's just say negros, Catholics and Jews when you burn it on their from lawn.
No, but I think it's racist to spread anacdotal urban legend stories, and say that people are undeserving because of it. Think about it--nearly all of the e-mailed "I saw horrible behavior from Katrina evacuees" stories were proved false. But they were spread around anyway--because if we blame the victum as somehow being undeserving of help, we don't have to feel bad about not giving it to them.
And piles of debris blocking streets did not, in fact, exist prior to Katrina.
And if you're sick of hearing about N.O. and Kratrina, I'm guessing the folks who are dealing with it are MORE sick of doing so.
I'll bet the righties wouldn't be so tired of hearing about Katrina if if had happened in GOPer territory.
"It was then that I decided I would not go."
Right... because you were anxious to help these folks before you heard this stuff. Certainly before Katrina you didn't have these kinds of views. My family is from Baton Rouge. My brother-in-law joined a group who helped pull people out of their houses (against FEMA orders). My sister and him took in a Katrina family for several months and believe the experience was one of the most rewardiing of their lives. There were a lot of innocent people who died and this blaming the victim carp turns my stomach.
Furthermore, a senator has little important enough going on in her life to call the lack of mention of hurricane relief a year and a half after the hurricane a "glaring omission"?!? Please!
Or, another way to look at it would be the near total destruction of a major American city. And we wouldn't be talking about it a year and a half later if the Administration would stop dragging their feet and get SOMETHING DONE.
Well, no. Because they are being helped.
But, seriously, I live in the "tuff" middle part of the country, and if my city were destroyed by a blizzard and I had no heat or shelter, I'd raise the frickin' roof.
http://www.snopes.com/katrina/katrina.asp#katrina
And besides, what about the situation leads you to believe that we should only be compassionate to those we feel are "worthy"? Did Jesus help only the "worthy"? Did Jesus tell us to love one another...as long as they aren't poor?
Then count yourself lucky.
Tornados destroy whole towns, and people help each other--but the government does a lot, too. And if the government tried to withhold help because my state senator is a Dem, or if I still had a neighborhood of debris 18 months later, I'd "whine" a lot.
The people of New Orleans weren't hung out to dry. They were welcomed into hundreds of communities all across the country. Programs were set up to assist them with every possible need. Thousands upon thousands of people voluntarily went through red cross disaster relief training. Clothes and food were donated. Shelters were set up. Job opportunities were created specifically for Katrina victims.
The government did respond, but as an immense machine, it can be anticipated that some people fall through the cracks. No one wants this to happen, but it does. Katrina victims, from New Orleans or anywhere else, are as worthy of help as anyone else. And those that looked for help got it.
I think I know.When the leader of the "free world" forgets his Christianity, that just lets every other fake christain off the hook.They're probably thinking,"if the most power Christian in the world doesnt care about the poor and our troops lives,why should I?"
Well, I do beleive in Jesus and I read the Bible.There is a passage in it that says that when false christains come before God to be judged many will say "but God, did I not perform great acts in your name?and dispell many evils in your name?And God will turn to them and say,"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU WORKERS OF LAWLESSNESS".
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