Excuses, Excuses

There is no excuse for incompetent implementation of emergency plans, and there is no excuse for criminality. There is no excuse of a total breakdown in civil order resulting from an almost total lack of security. There is simply no excuse for denying reality. All of these excuses should be condemned.

But are they? No.

This is why I am increasingly angry at FEMA's leader, who seems to take startlingly little responsibility for his agency's failures -- including, it is now reported, the failure to transport hundreds of trailers to Louisiana, despite the promise to do the same.

A strong community identifies the mistakes that its members makes and attempts to address them in an honest way. I see nothing of this in Gov. Blanco, Mayor Nagin, or, in his own oblivious way, Michael Brown of FEMA.

Even the President has seen fit to deem the results of the response inadequate. If even he is able to concede this, why not someone like Brown? Or Blanco? Or Nagin? Apparently, for Brown, Blanco, and Nagin, either everything went fine, or, if anything went wrong, it was someone else's fault. Unacceptable.

And now, it is reported that Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco are at odds in regard to the evacuation of New Orleans. This is the result of a political culture of passing the buck, of failure to heed the requirements of rules, of marginal performance, and, perhaps worst of all, of hubris.

When our leaders fail to do their jobs, innocent Americans suffer. When they deny that they have done so, but instead point the finger of blame at others, then more innocent Americans will suffer in the future. For what kind of response would a Michael Brown, a Mayor Nagin, or a Gov. Blanco order when the next hurricane hits? Will there be more dithering, more turf-protecting, and more buck-passing?

As Republicans, we believe in accountability. We may not be perfect, but where we fail, we try not to make excuses where such excuses make little sense. None of the excuses that Brown, Blanco, and Nagin have made make any sense.

I join with many of my fellow Americans in welcoming a comprehensive and fair Congressional inquiry into the causes and results of this unnecessary tragedy. And, even more, I hope that people of good faith search their souls to determine whether baiting of all kinds -- political, racial, and otherwise -- will lead, as seems likely, to further conflict, destruction and decline ahead, to the terrible detriment of this great nation.