Mayor slams Blanco for stalling
By James G. Lakely
September 7, 2005
Mrs. Blanco yesterday complained on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the federal government didn't act fast enough as the crisis grew.
"We didn't have enough resources," Mrs. Blanco said. "We were begging for resources, too. We needed helicopters because of all the water, we needed helicopters that could actually do this rescue mission, and we needed boats.
"We brought in everything we had, and we were begging for more, and nothing came as quickly as we needed it," she said.
Supporters of the president, however, say Mrs. Blanco and Mr. Nagin, who left New Orleans for the safety of Baton Rouge before the storm hit, also should share some blame.
"Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin weren't exactly Pataki and Guiliani," said a political adviser with close ties to the White House, referring to the New York governor and mayor praised for their response to the September 11 attacks. "They'll have their own problems when this crisis abates."
Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, said, "Hindsight is 20/20," but added that Mrs. Blanco was too slow in calling out the National Guard to keep order in New Orleans and save lives.
"We needed to make this a full-scale military operation starting with the National Guard immediately," Mr. Vitter said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Paul Simpson, a political blogger who lives in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, La., said he and other locals are puzzled by the governor's refusal to let the federal government temporarily command the state's National Guard.
"I thought it was as standard as sunshine in California that the governor would tell the president, 'You have the Guard.' I thought that was a given," Mr. Simpson said. "She absolutely has no clue."
Critics have long derided Mrs. Blanco for her tendency to call for studies and special commissions to find solutions for the state's biggest problems.
In 2003, the Shreveport Times, in endorsing her Republican opponent for governor, Bobby Jindal, called Mrs. Blanco "indecisive" and "unprepared" for the rigors of the job.
But defenders say that this merely reflects Mrs. Blanco's deliberative temperament. Shortly after Mrs. Blanco took office, Dan Juneau, president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, defended her as a woman who "likes to accumulate as much information as possible before finalizing a major decision."
"She would rather be criticized for taking her time in finding the right approach than for shooting from the hip and moving in the wrong direction," Mr. Juneau wrote.
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