President Bush Speaks To The Nation
“Four years after the frightening experience of September the 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I, as President, am responsible for the problem, and for the solution. So I’ve ordered every Cabinet Secretary to participate in a comprehensive review of the government response to the hurricane. This government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. We’re going to review every action and make necessary changes, so that we are better prepared for any challenge of nature, or act of evil men, that could threaten our people.” — President George W. Bush
Full transcript here. AP reports here.
Michelle Malkin has comments.
PoliPundit says “Hell Yes!”
Relatedly, Ace of Spades observes:
“ABC Interviews Wrong Black People” (Video)
Instapundit keeps it close to the vest.
PoliticalTeen has video.
Gary Gross rightly dismisses the “National Idiots”:
“Sen. Kerry, I won’t even let a dunce like you ruin tonight. . .Not to be outdone, the minority leadership of Pelosi & Reid issued their own petty statement.”
Overall, we grade the speech a B+.
As usual, the President conveyed sincerety, compassion and optimism. Much needed. Well-received. Just being himself.
As for policy, we take issue (and therefore clipped his grade) over the following:
“I propose the creation of Worker Recovery Accounts to help those evacuees who need extra help finding work. Under this plan, the federal government would provide accounts of up to $5,000, which these evacuees could draw upon for job training and education to help them get a good job, and for child care expenses during their job search.”
We are critical of this proposal for the same reason we are here. The President shouldn’t be so generous with our money.
Not to sound insensitive, but it’s presumptious to think that every evacuee was employeed or interested in working in the first place. Some may not be. And $5,000 is a lot of money to offer “for child care expenses.” As La Shawn Barber quips, Bush shouldn’t be a “Sugar Daddy.”
We’re not the only ones concerned about the spending:
Mark Tapscott wonders if GOP will be Katrina’s biggest casualty
ConservativeThinking calls it Bush’s “New Deal/Great Society”
PunditGuy exclaims, “Who stole my president?”
Don Singleton smells “pork”
The Political Pit Bull has another criticism. We agree.
Others were more generous in their grading.
(Hattip: Patrick Ruffini)
Powerline: “A Uniter Once Again — The President was at his best tonight. …”
Hugh Hewitt: “Perfect pitch returned tonight, and the president’s looks backward and forward were on target.”
UPDATE: (9/16)
Gary Gross has an excellent round-up of “What They’re Saying About the President’s Speech”
GayPatriot calls it, A Good Speech Recognizing that “Powerful American Determination†to Rebuild Better than Before
But Matt Szabo worries about the “big shirt”
Scott Ott points out:
Bush Accidentally Delivers Rejected Draft Speech
Well, that explains some things.
September 16th, 2005 at 4:04 am
Breakfast: 9/15/2005
Try one of these specials with your breakfast: California Conservative looks at the President’s speech. Confederate Yankee looks beyond the speech. WuzzaDem looks at ABC’s post-speech interviews. The Therapist looks at ABC’s post-speech interviews. …
September 16th, 2005 at 7:23 am
[...] ush’s speech lastnight include: La Shawn Barber Blogs for Bush Conservative Thinking California Conservative GOP Bloggers The Political Teen has the video. [...]
September 16th, 2005 at 7:58 am
[...] ssary and for further failing to harness the power of the conservative majority. Ow. The California Conservative, via Basil, gives the speech a B+, but doesn’t think the Prez should [...]
September 16th, 2005 at 10:20 am
Bush Vows New Orleans Will Rise Again In Massive Gulf Coast Reconstruction
President George Bush has called for a massive reconstruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, coupled with an enterprise zone, more clearly delineated lines of f…
September 18th, 2005 at 9:18 am
‘We are critical of this proposal for the same reason we are here. The President shouldn’t be so generous with our money.
The sad joke is that the President already squandered your money (and mine). Think of it this way: the Prez and his admin had the opportunity to buy insurance against disaster in the Gulf. How? In the form of higher levees, combined with an effective FEMA staffed by disaster pros (the kind who could prod local gov’ts into getting their own acts together) and not a handful of political hacks. The levees would’ve cost what, $15 billion? And a real FEMA a fraction of that?
It’s not like buying flood insurance in the desert, either; everyone knew that NO and the gulf region was at a unique risk. The gov’t was amply informed of the cost of a level 5 hurricane. Insurance would’ve been a good idea.
But this President said no insurance; screw the levees; downsize and castrate FEMA; ignore the threat.
Now it happened, and we have to pony up $200 billion. No choice. No chance to go back and rethink. Just pay up. Your money, my money, everybody’s money …
… and a lot of it going to clean up a mess that didn’t need to be as bad as it was, if the Pres was a true leader instead of a short-sighted political machinist.
Remember his lameness when he’s reaching into your wallet!
September 18th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
$5,000 is a lot of money to offer “for child care expenses.â€Â
But a lot less than, say, the $200-400k that went from the US Treasury to every evacuated Gaza settler.
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:08 am
Buy cialis line….
Buy cialis line….