Cruel Katrina exposes Bush

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Cruel Storm Exposes Bush to the Political Elements

Quoting Abraham Lincoln, South Africa’s Cape Times adds its voice to the global chorus of shock at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, pointing out that the storm “revealed the racial fissures in American society.”

September 6, 2005

Original Article (English)

"That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Is America Letting Lincoln Down?

These stirring words were uttered by Abraham Lincoln, the United States' 16th president, at Gettysburg in 1863. But is America living up to this ideal?

In the wake of the death and destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina - the worst natural disaster to hit the U.S. in recent times - many around the world are asking this question. The devastation is a sight to behold; a "humbling experience," according to President George Bush.

But the symbolism of some of the images is even starker. Who would have thought that over a million American citizens would become "refugees" in their own country and flay their government for its failure to come to expeditiously their aid? Or that in the most advanced society in the world, which gave us ER [the TV show], the badly injured would be left for dead due to lack of assistance?

Waiting to Escape ... At the Superdome

The mayor of New Orleans was shown on television pleading for help as looters rampaged in his city. The starving survivors pleaded for food and water. Yet Washington, in a bizarre display of uncaring aloofness, appeared unable to respond to the crisis until days later.

The disaster also revealed the racial fissures in American society. Most of the hapless survivors who filled New Orleans' Superdome were black, with the more affluent white residents able to flee in their SUVs before Katrina brought her misery.

But the allegation of racism is only but of the many criticisms Bush faces in the hurricane's aftermath. For instance, the slow response to the disaster was partly blamed on the fact that many members of the National Guard are on duty in Iraq.

Bush's other weaknesses are his poor environmental record and his management of the U.S. economy. As the cost of the cleaning-up and reconstruction is contemplated in the days and months ahead, both issues loom large as the cause of the flooding of New Orleans.