Necessary Leadership

Watching footage over the past two days of events in Mississippi and Louisiana has been absolutely surreal for me. It's hard for me to wrap my head around the severity of the situation because 1) I've never witnessed anything like that first hand and 2) I never had a chance to really prepare for it. I cannot define the point at which this went from a weather channel headline, a storm creeping across Florida and into the gulf...to the point where an entire city was destroyed and another community along the coast made a giant graveyard. In the blink of an eye, it seems, we've been dealt a national crisis.

And it's during these national crises that we look to our leaders for...leadership. Some may be upset at my decision to criticize Bush at a time like this, but I think his lack of leadership is worth pointing out here - perhaps this crisis can teach future leaders a lesson. President Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his presidency today. As with past crises, he appeared a day later than he was needed, and provided little more comfort than anyone had already found on their own. He read a canned speech of a quality more appropriate for a hallmark holiday celebration - a long celebratory list of all the things the goverment would be sending down to the area. I half expected him to plant a tree or introduce this year's White House turkey. He then told us that anybody who wanted to help should send money, and with that stupid fake smile he is so famous for, promised that everything would work out.

Does he understand the scale of what happened? He flew over New Orleans, so I would hope he does. An entire city is gone! Homes are flooded to the rooftop; streets are impassable; there are zero communications, no phones, internet, television; looters are stealing everything they can carry; the Governor has told residents that they shouldn't expect to return to the city for months, as it will take that long to pump all of the water out. And there are still thousands of people who need to be rescued.

And what about Gulfport MS? It's not considered a major city, so it hasn't gotten the attention New Orleans has, but it was also destroyed - literally wiped off the map. This is all like something out of a Spielberg movie.

And in the midst of all this, our leader gave us a list of supplies that are being sent, and a fake smile. His demeanor yesterday seemed "casual" to the point of carelessness. I don't believe he understood the depth of this crisis, and he displayed no type of leadership that the American people should expect from their President. Where do we find a statesman that can?

Perhaps he was just upset that he had to cut his month-long vacation short!