The Charlie Foxtrot down South: Heads should roll

[Rocky Raab]

Again, I'd like to put some perspective on certain things.

Leaving politics and blame completely aside for now, let's look at the situation immediately after the hurricane ended.

Not only New Orleans but a hundred miles of other cities along the Gulf coast are destroyed. There is no power, no water, no cell service, no road access to many places and no functioning emergency departments (fire or police).

There is no way to know how many people evacuated, or who, or where they went. There is no way way to know how many did NOT evacuate, or who, or what happened to them.

Given all that, your job (we'll assume YOU are the person in charge) is to:

Rescue the living
Search for hidden survivors
Provide food, water and shelter to evacuees
Restablish communications
Restablish power
Recover the dead
Clear roads
Remove debris
Evacuate the survivors
Call in reinforcements
Coordinate donations
Distribute supplies
Arrange massive transportation for people and supplies
Respond to thousands of media interview requests
Tour the scene personally

That's hardly all, but that's a good short list of "immediate" items.

Now, here's the $64 question: which one do you do first? Because at some point or other, EVERYBODY involved with the hurricane has been castigated and blamed for not doing ALL of those things first.

Start clearing roads in, and the media shows people screaming to be rescued.

Rescue people, and the media shows people bellowing for food at shelters.

Get everybody evacuated and the media moans that bodies are going untended.

Tour the area, and the media complains that it wasn't soon enough. Try to meet with your staff, and the media complains that you aren't doing enough interviews to keep people informed.

Try to do anything, and the media will complain about something else.

Get the picture?

Now imagine you are not only in charge of the disaster, but are also the President. The Chief Justice dies, the Senate holds up confirmation of the previous Court vacancy, there's an oil problem, there's a war going on - and oh by the way, there's another hurricane off the coast.

How would you do?