You Can Say That Again

Sometimes, other say it best. Washington Post Marc Fisher's comments from an online chat Thursday:

Last year, for the first time in 37 years, the Army Corps of Engineers halted work on the levee system in Louisiana. Reason: Budget cuts. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the head of the Corps was sacked by the president because he was pushing too hard for a new flood control program. The paucity of National Guardsmen available to establish some order in New Orleans is a direct result of the massive deployment of Guardsmen to Iraq--another administration policy designed to prevent the American public from feeling the true cost of the war.

Yet in the president's thin remarks yesterday, there was no call for sacrifice, no mention of conservation, even as gas prices skyrocket and we look ahead at a period of obvious shortage. Just as he failed to call on the goodness and strength of the American people in the aftermath of 9/11, urging contributions to the Red Cross rather than far stronger forms of sacrifice, Bush has once again decided to treat Americans like schoolchildren, making this crisis sound like someone else's problem, one that we can help by writing a check instead of one that we all need to address through common sacrifice and effort.

So the president wins today's Nay of the Day, for failing again to speak straight to the people and for putting the politics of having it all ahead of the reality of life in a community--paying for a decent life for all.

Amen brother. Amen.