Did any of the SOTU talking head coverage note the curious omission of Katrina?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/print/20050915-8.html

September 15, 2005
President Discusses Hurricane Relief in Address to the Nation
Jackson Square
New Orleans, Louisiana
8:02 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:
...

Tonight so many victims of the hurricane and the flood are far from home and friends and familiar things. You need to know that our whole nation cares about you, and in the journey ahead you're not alone. To all who carry a burden of loss, I extend the deepest sympathy of our country. To every person who has served and sacrificed in this emergency, I offer the gratitude of our country. And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again.


...

And the federal government will undertake a close partnership with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, the city of New Orleans, and other Gulf Coast cities, so they can rebuild in a sensible, well-planned way. Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly. And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely -- so we'll have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures.

...

Our third commitment is this: When communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm.

...

Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive; not just to cope, but to overcome. We want evacuees to come home, for the best of reasons -- because they have a real chance at a better life in a place they love.

Was there perhaps an embarrassing lack of followthrough that Rove and Bush didn't want to emphasize? Just sayin'...

[Divine Discontent]

1. of course not that I saw

but several of the dems (webb, edwards) didn't let it pass...

[Erika]

2. So many of us will never forget Katrina

W was playing, Condi was shoe shopping, Rummy was watching a ball game. They were leading the good life.

It was the most shameful insensitivity ever shown an American city. The pics were broadcast worldwide.

[Hekate]

3. On Charlie Rose. I think it was Martha Radditz commenting on his delusional isolation from bad news

She was talking about Iraq, but used Katrina as an example. A woman professor (? I had the captions on so I wouldn't have to turn the tv up too loud this late at night, and they obscure people's names on the screen) also brought up both Katrina and Iraq as an issue of competence and engagement with reality.

So -- the thought is out there, and others are sure to have noticed as well.

Hekate

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. I meant more that, a little more than a year after, you'd think a "State of the Union" might

include an update on the "State of the Gulf" reconstruction efforts, since, being part of the United States and all, its devastation is AT LEAST as important as anything happening in Iraq.

So one would think.

Unless the shame of work not done would cause him not to wish to call any attention to it in the speech.

[Hekate]

6. If we had a normal human being as President, of course. This is Bush we're talking about....

You are absolutely right -- one would think he would have talked about rebuilding New Orleans. But if he had done so, it would have been the usual pack of lies about how quickly NO is being rebuilt and Jesus smiling down on the efforts of church groups ripping out moldy drywall. I'm just as glad he didn't.

I'm not sure if he is capable of feeling shame. I think he's just obsessed with Iraq and nothing else even appears on his radar.

Also, if we had a normal human being for President right now, New Orleans would not have drowned and been abandoned in the first place.
>sigh<

Hekate

[QMPMom]

5. Anderson Cooper and John Edwards talked about Katrina

being left out of the speech.

[malaise]

7. Jim Webb didn't let them forget. n/t

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. I wonder if Webb knew shrub wouldn't even mention Katrina when he wrote the response?

[malaise]

9. I doubt it but it was

perfect since JW mentioned NOLA in the first paragraph after he introduced himself. Fugg Bush.

[salin]

10. NBC after Webb's speech noted that Webb focused

on New Orleans, while the president didn't speak to it during the SOTU

[Alamom]

11. "That" has been mentioned on CNN this morning.

Just the fact that New Orleans and the no response to Katrina was totally excluded.........no one knows why.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. Hmm 2 reasons jump immediately to mind: 1. He doesn't want to call any attention to

what I believe is the WORST failure of his presidency (and that's saying a lot)

2. Relative inaction in the year since (which is mostly on purpose IMHO) makes him even more reluctant to call any attention to it, as it makes the disgrace more.

[TZ]

13. Don't you realize...

that New Orleans is fine now? At least the "important" parts are. We all saw the Saints playing football in the Superdome until last week so everything is just peachy there!:sarcasm:

[Clark2008]

14. KO and Tweety mentioned it. eom

[Catherine Vincent]

15. It's more proof that this administration failed during Katrina.

They don't want to talk about it.