President George W. Bush accepted full responsibility Tuesday for the widely criticized federal response during the days following Hurricane Katrina.
In a press conference at the White House held with Iraqi President Jilal Talabani, Bush said, “To the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.”
The press conference was supposed to be a joint status report from Bush and Talabani on the state of Iraq, but attention quickly turned toward Katrina and the federal government’s ability to ward off another disaster.
Bush’s announcement came one day after Michael Brown resigned from his post as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and was replaced by new acting director R. David Paulison.
Paulison told reporters after the press conference that he was ready to move ahead with FEMA’s rescue efforts.
“We’re going to get those people out of shelters, and we’re going to move and get them the help they need,” Paulison said.
Bush said he wants to know what went wrong and what went right in the federal government’s response.
“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of the government,” Bush said.
Bush was responding to a reporter who asked whether Americans should be “concerned if their government isn’t prepared to respond to another disaster or even a terrorist attack.”
The federal response has been called incompetent and slow by both the media and many public officials.
State Rep. Cedric Richmond told The Daily Reveille in an e-mail that Bush “should take the opportunity to make New Orleans an example of how to build a model city.”
While he said Bush’s announcement was important, the Democrat said, “His actions from here on out will determine how he is portrayed in history.”
U.S. Sen. David Vitter called the federal relief effort a failure days after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. The Republican has continued to blast what he called “bureaucratic incompetence.”
In a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday, Vitter said again, “In that initial relief effort, FEMA failed us miserably.”
But Vitter’s criticism did not only include the federal effort, he faulted the state government’s effort, as well.
“The State of Louisiana’s hurricane preparation and emergency bureaucracy in Baton Rouge failed us miserably, too,” Vitter said.
Vitter also said he feels there are “heads that must roll” and that he thinks the government needs to look at which institutions failed to provide the necessary aid to the people in Louisiana and Mississippi, the two states hit hardest by Katrina.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu said in a press release that she thinks Bush’s acceptance of responsibility will help the devastated people of the Gulf Coast to “move forward.”
“The President’s comments today will do more to move our country forward from this tragedy than anything that has been said by any leader in the past two weeks,” the Democrat said. “Accountability at every level is critical, and leadership begins at the top.”
Landrieu said the government should begin rebuilding New Orleans and the other affected parts of the Gulf Coast.
“Let us now get to work rebuilding this great city and metropolitan area,” she said. “And let’s try to work together at the local, state and federal levels to get the job done right.”
Contact Jeff Jeffrey at [email protected]