Landrieu Plays Politics

Yahoo News: Louisiana Senator raps Bush over Katrina effort---

BATON ROUGE, United States (AFP) - Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu branded President George W. Bush's visit to a busted levee in New Orleans a mere photo-op, and slammed his government's response to the hurricane tragedy.

Landrieu rebuked Bush for failing to heed her call to name a cabinet-level official to lead the federal government response to the one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

"Perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street Levee," said Landrieu, a Democrat.

"Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe.

"Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity.

"The desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment.

"The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -- black and white, rich and poor, young and old -- deserve far better from their national government."

The White House responded to Landrieu's call on Friday by saying that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) falls under the oversight of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who is of cabinet rank.

Well, Mary, I would say that the "good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Cost--black and white, rich and poor, young and old" deserved far better from their state and local governments, not to mention those who represent them in Congress! Why haven't you done a better job for your people?

And as for the 17th Street Levee, maybe you should listen to the Army Corps of Engineers, Mary.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that a lack of funding for hurricane protection projects around New Orleans did not contribute to the disastrous flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.
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"I don't see that the level of funding was really a contributing factor in this case," said Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the corps. "Had this project been fully complete, it is my opinion that based on the intensity of this storm that the flooding of the business district and the French Quarter would have still taken place."