why doesn't EITHER candidate mention Katrina?

[Lerkfish]

maybe they have, and I've missed it.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

1. Excellent Question OP was wondering the same nt

[OzarkDem]

24. Clinton's Gulf Coast Recovery Agenda

You have to admire her, the lady does her homework...

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/katrina/


As president, Senator Clinton would take the federal rebuilding coordinator out of the Department of Homeland Security bureaucracy and put him in the West Wing, reporting directly to the president. She would meet with the Director weekly and grant him full authority to lead all federal participation in Gulf Coast recovery. The Director’s first order of business would be to conduct a Katrina/Rita Recovery Census –canvassing all federal assistance needs of Gulf Coast communities.


Senator Clinton would take a series of immediate, concrete steps to move federal dollars to where they belong. She would eliminate the local match requirement for FEMA recovery funds. She would streamline and simplify the “project worksheet” process of securing FEMA public infrastructure grants, and deploy sufficient staff to clear backlogs. For priority projects, she would provide upfront seed funding to jumpstart rebuilding while applications and claims are processed. And she would direct FEMA to give the maximum flexibility allowed by law to schools, fire stations, and other critical institutions for creative rebuilding and renovation. She would also convene a state-local-federal summit to resolve challenges confronting Louisiana’s “Road Home” program, with the goal of removing the remaining federal obstacles.


As president, Hillary would create a Gulf Coast Corps, governed by a joint federal-state-local board. The Corps would have two tracks: (1) it would provide financial incentives to skilled professionals – teachers, doctors, nurses, etc. – to serve in high-need areas as identified by state and local officials; and (2) it would directly hire thousands of workers and apprentices – especially locals and those who left but want to return – to complete priority public works projects, as identified by the states. The first track would fill shortages of key personnel who perform essential services. The second track would provide well-paying jobs to restore and upgrade core infrastructure – fire stations, parks, hospitals, roads, sewer and water systems – so that businesses can function effectively and residents can reestablish their communities and reclaim their culture.


There are still clear gaps and deficiencies in the city’s hurricane defenses. Senator Clinton would immediately order an independent, stem-to-stern review of the Army Corps of Engineers’ plans and progress thus far. She would fully fund and expedite construction to ensure the city has reliable defenses this hurricane season, and would order the Corps to achieve Category 5 protection over time. And, because every 2 to 4 miles of wetlands reduces storm surges by a foot, she would require the Army Corps and other federal agencies to integrate a wetlands restoration plan as a vital component of hurricane protection efforts.


In addition to addressing Road Home, Senator Clinton would pursue two specific policy initiatives. First, she would address the skyrocketing cost of insurance by: investigating insurance pricing and claims adjustment practices in the Gulf region; reforming the National Flood Insurance Program; reviewing the insurance industry’s antitrust exemption; and working with states to support their insurance programs. Second, she would expand the stock of affordable rental housing by: partnering with states and localities; funding new public housing developments; offering incentives to builders and developers; and providing direct assistance to residents who have lost their units, including those living in transitional housing.


The murder rate in New Orleans has spiked, while the police ranks have dwindled. Senator Clinton would provide sufficient COPS and Byrne Grant funding to put two hundred new police officers back on the beat in New Orleans, to fill vacancies in prosecutors’ offices, and to help the city deploy new crime-fighting technologies and methods in partnership with local community leaders. Senator Clinton would also confront the challenge of interoperability by setting national communications standards and providing funds for equipment upgrades.


The schools in New Orleans suffered hundreds of millions in damage, and remain in various states of disrepair. Senator Clinton would renovate and modernize school facilities through the Gulf Coast Corps. The Corps would also fill the large teacher shortage – officials are anticipating 650 vacancies alone in the Recovery School District. In addition, Senator Clinton would direct the EPA to provide technical assistance through its “Tools for Schools” program to help New Orleans build modern school facilities that are energy efficient, free of lead, mold and other pollutants, and designed to maximize fresh air and sunlight.


A recent survey reported that more than a third of greater New Orleans residents reported less access to quality health care than before the storm. As president, Senator Clinton would deploy the Gulf Coast Corps to rebuild hospitals and clinics, especially those that serve the under- and uninsured. She would recruit health care workers – doctors, nurses, mental health professionals – through the Corps. And she would provide Community Mental Health Block Grants to address a growing mental health care crisis.


In addition to supporting and extending federal incentives to stimulate a thriving Gulf Opportunity Zone and to support small businesses, Senator Clinton would direct federal agencies to provide technical assistance to help individuals and communities build energy-efficient “green” homes and buildings, environmentally friendly public transit systems, and modern parks and recreation areas.


To avoid a repeat of the catastrophic failures of the Bush Administration, Hillary would immediately pursue two proposals she has offered in the Senate: elevate FEMA to cabinet-level status; and establish a Katrina/Rita Commission – modeled on the 9/11 Commission – to review what went wrong and what changes are necessary. She would modify the Stafford Act to add a Catastrophic Annex and would direct FEMA to work with folks on the ground to develop preparedness and response plans and lines of authority. As president, she will be ready to respond the moment a disaster strikes.

[DURHAM D]

2. Hello. Hillary mentions it all of the time. eom

[terrell9584]

3. Katrina affected three states that are not in competition

and I say this as someone from the disaster zone.

And I honestly think the country has forgotten at this point because they're not the ones who deal with it, they're not the ones who were directly affected. The ones who can remember what used to be there and is no longer there, who remember the delays that were caused by major bridges being damaged and destroyed, who can drive through the area and see what used to be there, who remember seeing furniture from homes on the sides of the road for months waiting for FEMA to pick it up.

The truth is, none of the three states are likely to turn this November.

[Lerkfish]

4. that's sad, really. Its one issue that I think Bush should have been impeached over

it was dereliction of duty as president.

[FrenchieCat]

5. Obama Talks the talk and walks the walk....

Here is Barack Obama’s record on rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.

Sept. 2, 2005: Obama holds press conference urging Illinoisans to contribute to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Sept. 5, 2005: Obama goes to Houston to visit evacuees with Presidents Clinton and Bush.

Sept. 7, 2005: Obama introduces bill to create a national emergency family locator system

Sept. 8, 2005: Obama introduces bill to create a National Emergency Volunteers Corps.

Sept. 8, 2005: Obama co-sponsors the Katrina Emergency Relief Act of 2005 introduced by Senator Harry Reid

Sept. 8, 2005: Obama co-sponsors the Hurricane Katrina Bankruptcy Relief and Community Protection Act of 2005 introduced by Senator Russ Feingold

Sept. 12, 2005: Obama introduces legislation requiring states to create an emergency evacuation plan for society’s most vulnerable

Sept. 15, 2005: Obama issues public response to President Bush’s speech about Gulf Coast rebuilding.

Sept. 21, 2005: Obama co-sponsors bill to establish a Katrina commission to investigate response to the disaster introduced by Hillary Clinton

Sept. 21, 2005: Obama appears on NPR to discuss the role of poverty in Hurricane Katrina.

Sept. 22, 2005: Obama and Coburn’s Hurricane Katrina financial oversight bill unanimously passes Senate committee.

Sept. 22, 2005: Obama’s amendment requiring evacuation plans unanimously passes Senate committee.

Sept. 28, 2005: Obama and Coburn issue statement about the need for a Chief Financial Officer to oversee the financial mismanagement and suspicious contracts occurring in the reconstruction process

Sept. 29, 2005: Obama and Coburn investigate possible FEMA refusal of free cruise ship offer

Oct. 6, 2005: Obama and Coburn issue statement on FEMA Decision to re-bid Katrina contracts

Oct. 6, 2005: Obama co-sponsors Gulf Coast Infrastructure Redevelopment and Recovery Act of 2005.

Oct. 21, 2005: Obama releases statement decrying the extension of FEMA director, Michael “Brownie” Brown’s contract. Obama calls Brown’s contract extension, “unconscionable.”

Nov. 17, 2005: Obama and Coburn introduce legislation asking FEMA to immediately re-bid all Katrina reconstruction contracts.

Feb. 1, 2006: Obama gives Senate floor speech on his legislation to help children affected by Hurricane Katrina

Feb. 2, 2006: Obama introduces legislation to help low-income children affected by Hurricane Katrina

Feb. 23, 2006: Obama issues statement responding to a White House report on Hurricane Katrina. Obama noted that the top two recommendations that the report had for the federal government were initiatives he had been working on since immediately after the storm hit. Obama called the administration’s response “delinquent.”

May 2, 2006: Obama gives speech about no-bid contracts in Hurricane Katrina reconstruction

May 4, 2006: Obama’s legislation to end no-bid contracts for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction passed the Senate.

June 15, 2006: Obama and Coburn announce legislation to require amendment to create competitive bidding for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction for federal contracts over $500,000. Although it passed previously, the language was stripped in conference.

June 15, 2006: Obama releases podcast about his pending Katrina reconstruction legislation in the Senate.

June 16, 2006: Obama and Coburn get no-bid Hurricane Katrina reconstruction amendment into Department of Defense authorization bill.

July 14, 2006: Obama and Coburn’s legislation to end abuse of no-bid contracts passes senate as amendment to Department of Defense authorization bill.

August 11, 2006: Obama visits Xavier University in New Orleans to give Commencement address

August 14, 2006: Obama and Coburn ask FEMA to address ballooning no-bid contracts for Gulf Coast reconstruction

Sept. 29, 2006: Obama and Coburn legislation to prevent abuse of no-bid contracts in the wake of disaster passes Senate to be sent to President’s desk to become law.

Feb. 2007-Present: As Obama begins his Presidential campaign he references Katrina as a part of his stump speech as he travels around the country in his familiar line, “That we are not a country which preaches compassion and justice to others while we allow bodies to float down the streets of a major American city. That is not who we are.”

June 20, 2007: Obama co-sponsors Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007 introduced by Senator Chris Dodd.

July 27, 2007: Obama and colleagues get a measure in the Homeland Security bill that will
investigate FEMA trailers that may contain the toxic chemical, formaldehyde.

Aug. 26, 2007: Obama outlines a detailed Hurricane Katrina recovery plan.

December 18, 2007: Obama calls on President Bush to protect affordable housing in New Orleans

February 16, 2008: Obama releases statement on toxic Gulf Coast trailers
http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/2007/08/29/when-the-cameras-are-off-barack-obamas-hurricane-katrina-record/

[Lerkfish]

7. thanks, appreciate it.

for some reason, I never see that in the MSM.

[Mimosa]

8. Frechiecat, I am amazed

I'm an Obama supporter and I certainly didn't know all that. You are amazing me!

[FrenchieCat]

11. There's much more where that came from.......

Obama is no empty suit.....that's for sure! :)

[NoBushSpokenHere]

12. Thanks for posting Frenchie! I figured he had been talking about it

glad you posted!

[Mimosa]

6. Katrina: it's '15 minutes' passed back in 2006

For 18 years I lived quite happily in New Orleans, the most European city in America. Needless to say, Katrina changed the lives of many of us, including me, my family and friends. I now live in Atlanta. life won't be the same.

Both Dem candidates have briefly and I believe sincerely expressed some concern about the way the katrina catastrophe was botched and how many on the coast and in NOLA have suffered. About a month or 2 after katrina i realised the governments pledges of help were a mirage and we had to help ourselves for the most part.

What was presented to DH and me as a FEMA grant we had to pay back, although many didn't have to. The gov added to our financial stress. I think we all know the public has a short attention span. We also know that the Bush Imperial administration feeds on calamities as well as war.

[Lucky 13]

9. If Obama were to bring it up, he'd be "race-baiting"

:eyes:

[terrell9584]

16. Not at all

Katrina was never about race, the media just wanted you to think it was about it because that's a juicier narrative.

What it was really about was government incompetence that existed at all levels, the strongest storm to strike the gulf since 1969, and incidentally, they've lied about how strong it was when it came in. A 40 foot storm surge is inconsistent with a Category 3 landfall. It may have weakened, but it did not weaken as dramatically as the government said it did. Category 3 storms do not produce 20 foot surges 100 miles east of the eye.

However, I place most of the blame with FEMA. That they were totally unaware of how bad things were on the coast, even when you had reports saying that the water had extended to I-10.

Quite honestly, the one thing that many people have learned from the government is that you can trust neither the government (and at one time, FEMA was very popular, had a reputation as an efficient agency) nor insurance companies.

The real cause of all the misery is that insurance companies became investment companies who took policy money to reinvest and when the time came and people actually needed them, they tried to weasel their way out. If you want a winning issue on the coast, or even just a chance to place a dent in it, run against big insurance.

[VolcanoJen]

10. I have a feeling this photo will be making the rounds in the fall.

The morning the levee broke.

[FrenchieCat]

13. Isn't that Bush and McBush?

Eating cake while citizens were drowing?

[Lerkfish]

14. absolutely

putzes

[VolcanoJen]

15. Yes. And let's not forget it, come the fall.

It's important for everyone to remember that Bush's true erosion in popularity began when he ate cake and played guitar while a thousand of our precious citizens met their horrific, watery deaths.

McCain was a part of that. Part, and parcel.

[TAWS]

17. He did bring it up in his Race Speech, saying the media only focuses on race if its a spectacle...

like Katrina. Listen more.

"For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news." -Obama

[Lerkfish]

20. thanks.

appreciate it.

[jenmito]

18. Obama mentions Katrina often. He even mentioned it in his now-famous race speech. n/t

[rodeodance]

19. Both Bill and Hillary talked of katrina in MS--look at their speeches

[Lerkfish]

21. well, I stand corrected. both candidates HAVE mentioned Katrina

I just wish it were more of an issue, especially to use against McCain.

[KamaAina]

22. The real question is, why doesn't the M$M report it

when either candidate mentions Katrina?

It's as though New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast is under the "Cone of Silence", or maybe even Douglas Adams' "Somebody Else's Problem Field". :eyes:

[terrell9584]

25. they ignore it because it is the gulf coast

If it had been New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or some place like that, the national media would have been all over it.

But, we only have about 3 million people living here on the coast, so it's just unimportant when compared to covering the latest celebrity news, etc.

[izzybeans]

23. They have in speeches. I've heard them both say stuff about it. No links. I just know

I've heard it.

You have to find the full length speeches, as the MSM cuts out the substance of both of their speeches in favor of the minutiae about each other.