|
TheSequitur.com Editorial Board
Feb. 5, 2007
Sometimes silence is deafening.
Take, for instance, the president’s State of the Union address. It was conspicuously silent about the victims of Hurricane Katrina, according to some estimates the costliest natural disaster in the United States.
 President Bush fails to bare all in his State of the Union address. - Cartoon by Andy Marlette/Andy Marlette.com
We’re uncertain whether a Gulf States status report was actually forgotten or purposefully left from the speech. Either way it is shocking and appalling that the Katrina victims didn’t make the cut.
Surely White House speechwriters knew that New Orleans and the surrounding areas remain a bit of a sore spot in America’s underbelly – in more ways than one. But, despite the failures, something positive could have been spun out of our many efforts toward recovery in the area.
But there was no spin in this State of the Union. (Well, maybe no is a strong word.) This was not that kind of speech; you see, Bush actually needs the Democrats now if he intends to accomplish anything. And so maybe the speechwriters decided anything Bush said about Katrina would fail to generate the obligatory applause. Maybe the entire federal government would have squirmed in awkward silence while 300 million Americans watched.
And, sometimes, silence is deafening.
The Iraq war may be, as the president says, "sapping our nation’s soul," but our national heart still weeps for the many Katrina victims, especially those still displaced from their homes. The president’s speech should have addressed some of these sad facts and mapped out a real plan for strengthening a shaken part of the Union.While recovery efforts stumble ahead in the affected Gulf states, too many who have fled remain unable – or unwilling – to return home to a region that still needs a lot of TLC. They and their neighbors deserved the attention of the president during his most important annual address. Anything less would be disrespectful.
And it was.
While we endeavor to reconstruct Iraq, we must not be blind to the devastation here at home.
In New Orleans, Gulfport, Miss. and throughout the Gulf Coast, millions of Americans are rebuilding their cities, communities and families in the wake and devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina evacuees have been at one point or another dispersed to at least 44 states of our great country. Communities there have welcomed more than 1.1 million Americans; 1,800 others perished. While we endeavor to reconstruct Iraq, we must not be blind to the devastation here at home. In Louisiana, Katrina damaged approximately 200,000 residences and left behind in excess of 35 million cubic yards of garbage and debris. Plus, at least 110,000 jobs in flood-damaged areas of Louisiana and another 2,700 in Mississippi were lost after the storm.
Many of those who fled Katrina’s rising then stagnant waters could not find work elsewhere. The unemployment rate for Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the year following the storm was 15.4 percent, more than three times the nationwide rate.
All in all, Katrina has been the costliest natural disaster to hit America – totaling some $45 billion, according to some estimates.
The president’s speech should have addressed some of these sad facts and mapped out a real plan for strengthening a shaken part of the Union.
But that – apparently – isn’t worth talking about.
Senior Editor Dwayne Robinson abstains from all staff editorials.
|
Conclusions 
