1445 Dear Rep. Elijah Cummings

Dear Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md),

I see the Black Caucus has finally emerged five days after the hurricane--to criticize the federal government’s response to the disaster in New Orleans. One of your members, Stephanie Tubbs from my state, said this is not about race--right now. Meaning it will be later. But I think it is.
Stephanie Tubbs, (D-Oh)
It’s about ethnic and party loyalties, and sometimes it’s a two-fer. Your Black Caucus has been afraid to criticize the Mayor of New Orleans who is an African American Democrat. I think he did the best he knew how, but wasn’t up to the job. I don’t know how he got this office, or what experience he brought to it, but he was certainly no Rudy Giuliani, and that’s what the city needed--several, considering the breadth of the disaster. It was the mayor’s responsibility to have a plan to get the poorest and most vulnerable to safety, not the President of the United States, not the military, not the governor. It was his responsibility to ensure that the security forces of New Orleans had radio frequencies that could work together. It was his responsibility to have search and rescue plans in place, and equipment on hand to repair levees. These are local issues, and the people of New Orleans have been taxed for that.

And Louisiana’s governor is a Democrat. Again, I’m sure she is a nice person and means well. She speaks beautifully, as many politicians do (our president does not), but does not appear to be up to the task of facing down hurricanes. She just cries and asks people to pray. Someone said today she hasn’t yet called in the Louisiana National Guard. Surely that isn't true. Gracious!

Too much emphasis on looters? Really? Does Rev. Jackson mean the guys stealing bread and milk for their families or the thugs who were killing, stealing, holding firemen hostage and keeping rescue boats and helicopters from bring people to safety? Why shouldn’t anarchy in the streets, streets that should be under local control, be pinpointed by the media as a huge problem in a city crippled by a storm and poor preparedness. Why should the people of New Orleans have had to endure such a high crime rate by these same thugs all these years?

I’m not surprised the Democrats are running and hiding from this with wild theories about global warming, troops over extended in Iraq, and President Bush being on vacation. But you can’t hide forever. You’ll need to roll up your sleeves and do some house cleaning, and I don’t mean flood waters and sewage.

Update: I was just listening to George Pataky (Gov, NY) and he says his National Guard was there in LA Monday night. Could that be or did I not hear him right? Just googled it. Yep. They were there.