Bush: I am not a racist!
Posted by R. Neal
President Bush said in a speech yesterday that the federal government's response to Katrina was "appalling" but it was not racially motivated and he is not a racist.
You know what? I believe him.
First of all, he wasn't really involved. He was on vacation and couldn't be bothered. I don't think he was on the phone telling Brownie to let all those black people suffer and die in the Superdome and the Convention Center just because they were black. Second of all, Bush's life of privilege has isolated him from issues of race and poverty, and, like most middle and upper class white folks, he just doesn't relate to or even think very much about "those people" whatever color they might be. This isn't overtly racist per se, although white America is genetically programmed by generations of fear and distrust.
What I do think, though, is that the ineffective response was influenced by the conservative Republican principle that poor people are only poor because of their own shortcomings. They are lazy and don't want to work. They just want a handout and a free ride. They're too stupid and lazy to prepare for a disaster such as Katrina, so society owes them nothing. The Good Lord helps those who help themselves.
The notion of "entitlement", such as attending the best schools regardless of academic qualification, receiving multi-million dollar bonuses for figuring out new ways to short-change workers and consumers, or getting large no-bid government contracts because you have friends in high places, does not apply to those slipping through society's safety net who need a hand up and a level playing field. Or just a hot meal and a cot to sleep on when a natural disaster destroys their homes and communities.
In the post I linked to above (which you really should read), Digby disagrees and thinks "poor" is code for "black" and that trying to reframe the problem of poverty as a class issue masks the real problem of cultural and institutional racism. That may be generally true in the South, but Bush isn't really a Southerner. He's a wealthy Kennebunkport scion pursuing his destiny and doesn't trouble his beautiful mind with such notions.
Either way, no one, not even Bush, can deny that the federal government's "appalling" response to Katrina revealed institutionalized incompetence at the highest levels. Conservative "anti-socialist" values, racially tinged or not, are no excuse for incompetence. Such "values" do, however, give right-wing conservatives plenty of cover for their indifference and their unwillingness to help the people of the Gulf, especially if it means higher taxes or diverting funds from pet projects and miserable foreign policy failures.
OK, then.
President Bush said in a speech yesterday that the federal government's response to Katrina was "appalling" but it was not racially motivated and he is not a racist.
You know what? I believe him.
First of all, he wasn't really involved. He was on vacation and couldn't be bothered. I don't think he was on the phone telling Brownie to let all those black people suffer and die in the Superdome and the Convention Center just because they were black. Second of all, Bush's life of privilege has isolated him from issues of race and poverty, and, like most middle and upper class white folks, he just doesn't relate to or even think very much about "those people" whatever color they might be. This isn't overtly racist per se, although white America is genetically programmed by generations of fear and distrust.
What I do think, though, is that the ineffective response was influenced by the conservative Republican principle that poor people are only poor because of their own shortcomings. They are lazy and don't want to work. They just want a handout and a free ride. They're too stupid and lazy to prepare for a disaster such as Katrina, so society owes them nothing. The Good Lord helps those who help themselves.
The notion of "entitlement", such as attending the best schools regardless of academic qualification, receiving multi-million dollar bonuses for figuring out new ways to short-change workers and consumers, or getting large no-bid government contracts because you have friends in high places, does not apply to those slipping through society's safety net who need a hand up and a level playing field. Or just a hot meal and a cot to sleep on when a natural disaster destroys their homes and communities.
In the post I linked to above (which you really should read), Digby disagrees and thinks "poor" is code for "black" and that trying to reframe the problem of poverty as a class issue masks the real problem of cultural and institutional racism. That may be generally true in the South, but Bush isn't really a Southerner. He's a wealthy Kennebunkport scion pursuing his destiny and doesn't trouble his beautiful mind with such notions.
Either way, no one, not even Bush, can deny that the federal government's "appalling" response to Katrina revealed institutionalized incompetence at the highest levels. Conservative "anti-socialist" values, racially tinged or not, are no excuse for incompetence. Such "values" do, however, give right-wing conservatives plenty of cover for their indifference and their unwillingness to help the people of the Gulf, especially if it means higher taxes or diverting funds from pet projects and miserable foreign policy failures.
OK, then.
5 Comments:
Ok Bubba, why are people poor in this, a country where anyone from far off lands can move, open a 7-11 or gas station and provide for their families?
So your solution is for all poor people to open a 7-11? The initial franchise fee for a 7-11 store is about $70K plus another $20K for initial inventory for a total of $90K to open. Get back to us when you have some actual facts or ideas instead of made up rhetoric.
I don't think it was FEMA's finest hour and I was glad to see Michael Brown pushed out the door, but this was also a breakdown at the state and local level. The police in particular did a poor job - abandoning their posts and participating in the looting. If they had been heroes in the mold of NY firefighters things could have gone a lot differently.
FWIW, it was whites - not blacks - who died disproportionately during Katrina.
Les, yeah, we've seen that racist Michele Malking crap making the rounds. Its a little distorted, and doesn't include all the casualties, or the "unknowns", but that's to be expected. What's sad is that the right-wing would exploit dead people of any color to try and make a petty, unsubstantiated point about the poor, downtrodden white man. Why aren't we talking about the overall death toll and why it isn't being reported? The official toll is somewhere around 1300. There are reports of up to 6600 still missing or unaccounted for. Why is this being swept under the rug?
the bush agministation's dealing with katrina is a case of bush/ republican/reagan/trickle down economic/faith based initiative/fdr was wrong/patton was god karma running over their dogma.
Post a Comment
Return to Facing South's main page