Imagine if John Kerry was President during Katrina

[UrbScotty]

How would they have done things differently than * is doing them now? Let us count the ways...

For starters, Kerry would have probably hired a FEMA director who actually knew how to run the agency. Or, if said director wasn't doing his job, surely he'd be gone by now.

Also, would John Kerry pose for a photo-op with firefighters? I doubt it.

Oh, but the list goes on (and on and on...) So what would President John Kerry do?

[elehhhhna]

1. At least he knows how to drive a boat!

[trotsky]

2. Kerry may have had a tough time.

Remember, he would have inherited a FEMA department weakened by * budgets and neutered by being stuck under the DHS.

I fear that if Kerry was president, *'s FEMA would have fucked it up and now the Republicans WOULD be playing the blame game, laying it squarely on Kerry and his supposed mismanagement of the disaster response.

[FloridaPat]

3. THere may have been a different director, but all the other damage

had been done by *. FEMA would still be a mess, unless Kerry could have straightened it out in 8 monhts. Kerry would probably have had things running on day 1, not day 4. He would have had more of a handle on it and more concerned about the people of NO than *.

[formerrepuke]

4. This event would have been the first major test of the new adminstration

...and it probably would have turned out the same way- and Rush, Coulter, and all of Faux News wouldn't hesitate to say "we told you so...look what happens when you put liberals in power- all talk and no action.. now, people are dying, thanks to the incompetence of the Kerry-Edwards administration." The same apologists who are now defending the slow federal response would be uncompromisingly vicious in their attacks on the President if the election had turned out differently (that is, correctly,) last November.

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. It wouldn't have happened.

He'd certainly have consulted with Bill Clinton and upgraded the levees to grade 5.

[Skittles]

6. Kerry would not have been on vacation

he would have been there every step of the way

[UrbScotty]

7. Absolutely (nt)

[peekaloo]

8. I want to believe he would have been in constant contact with the Mayor,

Governor, FEMA, HS prior to the strike. I want to believe there would have been airdrops of food, water, and medicine no later than Wednesday. I want to believe this man would have shown us leadership and strength before and immediately after the storm.

I want to believe he may have cared, just a little, about those people.

Instead we got Where's Waldo.

[paineinthearse]

9. "...would John Kerry pose for a photo-op with firefighters?...:

[karynnj]

10. So because he had a photo taken during the campaign with

fireman, you are conjecturing this is what he would do during an emergency as President?

What next?
- He played guitar last year
- He ate cake last year
- He had fund raisers

Just like Bush - except those were reasonable things to do during a campaign during a time with no emergency.

What did Kerry do when Katrina hit?
Although he was in Iraq, as part of his job as a Senator on the SFRC, he:
- Requested with Sen Landrieu that the Oct deadline for disaster loans be extended 6 month to allow businesses to get their act together and file.
- Put out statements to his constituents and to the JohnKerry.com community expressing sympathy for the victims and providing people with links to organizations that were trying to help
- Trent Lott, in a Senate speech mentioned that John and Teresa offered help. (and presumably helped or it would be odd that Lott singled out Kerry as helping.)

If this is what he did as Senator, what would he do as President, with far more resources to command.

- He would have the executive branch looking into how to cut paperwork or extend deadlines as needed.
- His statement (with Teresa) to the JohnKerry.com site was the type of statement a President should make to reach out to a wounded nation.
- As President, he would have called (or had the people in charge of FEMA call) to find what was needed and got it there.
- He would act to get the US back in the Kyoto treaty and argue for fixing infastructure - but on both, he would be fighting a Republican Congress.

[Name removed]

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