Bush: Blame me for “serious problems in response” to Katrina

President George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for any failures in the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and acknowledged the storm exposed serious deficiencies at all levels of government four years after the September 11 attacks.

“To the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility,” Bush told a White House news conference at which he openly questioned U.S. preparedness for another storm or a “severe attack.”

Bush’s rare admission of “serious problems in our response capability” came as the White House stepped up efforts to repair his public standing. Bush will address the nation at 9 p.m. on Thursday from hard-hit Louisiana, his fourth visit to the disaster zone since Katrina struck.

The president’s approval ratings have hit new lows, partly due to fierce criticism of the slow response to the August 29 hurricane, which killed hundreds and displaced 1 million people in the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

Fifty-four percent of Americans disapprove of Bush’s handling of the response, but 57 percent say state and local officials should bear responsibility for the problems, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC poll.

Asked if Americans should worry that the government remains unprepared to respond to another major disaster or a terrorist attack, Bush said: “Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government.”

Bush himself raised questions about preparedness, after four years of record spending on domestic security since September 11, 2001.

“Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack or another severe storm? That’s a very important question and it’s in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on so we can better respond,” he said at a news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Michael Brown resigned as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Monday.

Left to pick up the pieces are countless public and private efforts organized across the country. In Boston, African American leaders gathered last week to discuss the state’s role in aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Senator Diane Wilkerson, Representative Gloria Fox, Reverend Jeffrey Brown and several other politicians and members of the clergy stressed two points in particular.  First, that politicians and the media stop using the term “refugees” when discussing the displaced population. Secondly, they unveiled a campaign to encourage the donation of travel-sized toiletries.

The leadership delivered a letter to the offices of Senator Kerry and Senator Kennedy, asking them to use their elected offices to convey to the media and public to cease referring to the displaced citizens as refugees because of the international connotation of the term.

“The word ‘refugee’ implies that the government has a choice whether or not to help the victims, “ says Senator Wilkerson. “In Kosovo, we chose to aid the refugees, in Sudan we did not. Citizens of this country have a right and an expectation that their government will respond to them,” she said. 

Wilkerson and others have also been working to publicize their campaign to encourage people in the community to donate travel sized toiletries such as soap, shampoo, and toothpaste, as well as sanitary products such as feminine hygiene products and baby wipes.

These products will be collected at Sen. Wilkerson’s district office at 951 Tremont St.

“There are people who can’t write a check for a thousand dollars, but everybody can do something,” said Wilkerson. “The perfect toiletries are those that make it into our luggage after a stay at a hotel or those sent as promotion to us in the mail.  We all have them under the sink and in the cabinet of our bathrooms.”

Boston NAACP President Leonard Alkins discussed setting up the infrastructure for medical services and educational services for those victims who arrive at Otis, stating that the NAACP would “ensure that all civil and human rights of the victims will be protected.” He and others also pointed out that allowing the victims to maintain a sense of dignity would be a large part of the healing process.

“We need to employ them if they are unemployed, and give them a sense of dignity, having them be a part of the rebuilding effort so that strangers are not coming in and rebuilding their city,” said Alkins. 

A great amount of attention has been given to race and class in the south, and how the two constructs resulted in FEMA’s slow response to victims, specifically in New Orleans. Massachusetts’ black leadership made no qualms about where it stood on the issue.

“It would be very hard for anyone to deny what has been shown to us. It’s a combination of racism and ineptitude,” Wilkerson declared angrily.

Despite the anger and frustration, Alkins stressed that they will make sure black people are at the forefront of every step of the rebuilding process, both locally and in the south.

“Enough has already been said on the national level,” Alkins said, “so let’s go forward as the community and get the job done.”

(Compiled from reports by Vidya Rao in Boston and wire service reports)