Condi spent the day playing tennis.

[yesthattom]

[ This post is a copy of Tom Tomorrow’s post because it says exactly what I wanted to say. ]

What is wrong with these people? Condi spent the day playing tennis.

For the benefit of the truly dense, John at americablog explains why the story of Condi’s lovely three-day getaway to the city matters:

The president, finally, has decided that the hurricane is a problem. He claims yesterday at 5pm, finally, that he’s going to be devoting his entire administration to saving the lives of the people currently dying in this growing national disaster. And what does a top member of his cabinet do? She goes to a Broadway comedy and today is buying multi-thousand-dollar shoes on 5th Avenue at the same time CNN is showing dead grandmothers in wheelchairs abandoned on the streets of New Orleans.

This is more than just a cheap shot at Condi. What in the blazes is this woman doing at a Broadway show in the middle of a national emergency? This is akin to going to a Broadway show in the middle of September 11. Don’t we expect the Secretary of State to work past 5pm on a day an entire American city is being wiped off the face of the planet? And shouldn’t she be doing something else today than shopping at filthy rich stores on 5th Avenue? Could she be - oh, I don’t know - working with foreign leaders, like the Mexicans, to see what immediate assistance they can offer to the neighbor?

New Orleans is ceasing to exist. What in God’s name is Bush doing letting his secretary of state go on vacation in the middle of this?

Also from americablog, watch for this little soundbite: “those who chose not to leave the city.”

Comments

[pure-agnostic.livejournal.com]

Between rounds of tennis, shopping for shoes, and Broadway plays, Condi did manage to turn down offers of assistance from 6 nations.

[tim1965.livejournal.com]

In her defense -- there's nothing the secretary of state can do. Labor, transportation, HHS, Education: They have tasks. But state? It can do nothing. Hell, it can't even coordinate energy shipments (that's Energy's job). She'd have literally nothing to do.

I agree that going shopping and hitting a show isn't sending the right message. But there's nothing for her to do. I don't mind that she's still on vacation; scheduling those things is a real bitch for cabinet secretaries. She did need to tone it down, though.

The thing is: The New Orleans Saints played a pre-season football game last night.

Why?

With bodies bloating in the streets, multi-millionaire football stars played a game.

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

Wrrrrooooonnnngggggg!

Secretary of state can be fielding support from other countries.

"Between rounds of tennis, shopping for shoes, and Broadway plays, Condi did manage to turn down offers of assistance from 6 nations." <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/yesthattom/401671.html?thread=1571335#t1571335>link</a>

[tim1965.livejournal.com]

The offers of request were turned down by Bush himself. Accepting or denying those are not something a cabinet officer can do!

Typical Bush, though. There are 3,700 Louisiana National Guard troops scheduled to come home in 60 days. But Bush is going to keep them in Iraq no matter what (he said so last night). Bush won't permit Navy ships based in Mobile or other southern ports to return home from Iraq to help with supplying power, ferrying people and supplies, pumping, returning Army trucks to the affected areas -- none of that.

No, Bush thinks it's more important for the Navy and Army to be protecting Iraqis rather than saving American lives here at home.

Bush essentially told other nations the same thing. "Keep your offers of help to yourself. I want Americans to die before I'll accept anything from you."

FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

There's a LOT of blame to go 'round in the federal government for Katrina response (not to mention for their kneecapping of preventative measures that might've helped alleviate the degree of the mess), but to be fair, I don't see that Katrina efforts will be materially affected by the Secretary of State, whose metier is foreign affairs. If someone can come up with a useful thing for her to do in line with her job description other than "trying to gladhand countries with generally worse economic situations & disaster funds than we have", which I think is a non-starter, I'd be interested to hear it.

If no one can, I feel she has as much of a right to go shopping in whatever store she chooses to patronize as the next citizen. ("filthy rich stores"? What, would it have been okay if she had gone to Kmart instead?)

That FEMA sonofabitch had better be working 24/7, though.

There is plenty Condi could be doing

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

In a time like this it is her job to coordinate help from other countires. "Between rounds of tennis, shopping for shoes, and Broadway plays, Condi did manage to turn down offers of assistance from 6 nations."

[ayse.livejournal.com]

I find it really odd to think that the governement should be run like a badly run business, where when there's a disaster, people whose departments are not directly affected can shrug and say, "That's not my department."

Condi didn't have anything to do? How about she change into dungarees and get her butt down to New Orleans for a date with a few hundred sand bags? How about she donate blood? How about she get on TV and beg for volunteers to help the evacuation and recovery efforts? Or, hell, she could cover the phones for the people who are doing that work.

There's plenty of work to be done and none of that work cannot be done by a Secretary of State, if the Secretary of State cares one bit. That's what I expect to see public servants doing.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

find it really odd to think that the governement should be run like a badly run business, where when there's a disaster, people whose departments are not directly affected can shrug and say, "That's not my department."

You know what a badly-run business is? One where everyone is meddling in everything, so that nobody has the full story of what's going on, and one person does something just as someone else undoes it. I've seen that in action, thanks. You perhaps have heard the proverb "Too many cooks spoil the broth"? I had much rather that Condi stick to (mis-)managing her own department rather than trying to fuck around with bureaucracies she has no familiarity with.

Condi didn't have anything to do? How about she change into dungarees and get her butt down to New Orleans for a date with a few hundred sand bags?

I think that's only a fair statement to make if YOUR butt has the same date.

It's also possible that she has donated blood and/or money. It's equally possible that she hasn't--but the point is, you don't know. So it's pretty uncool to make blanket proclamations where you don't have any actual facts to offer.

[ayse.livejournal.com]

"You know what a badly-run business is?"

One where nothing gets done because everybody's pointing fingers at somebody else. Like, say, nobody shows up to deal with an emergency until five days after the levee breaks.

"I think that's only a fair statement to make if YOUR butt has the same date."

So, it's only reasonable to expect leadership and public service from our leaders and public servants who are paid very well for doing those jobs if I'm willing to do the same? I call that bluff: you pay me Condi's salary for the duration, and I'll be on the next plane out of SFO. The woman gets very well paid, precisely because when the nation calls, she is supposed to respond. Not go shopping for shoes.

Donating blood or money privately is not the point: she should be out there using her power as a public figure to encourage Americans to make sacrifices for the greater good. But her administration is not so big on the personal sacrifice thing.

As for shopping for designer shoes, it's frankly inappropriate for a public figure to be so obviously fiddling while New Orleans drowns. Even if she can't do a damned thing because women always get in the way, she should be keeping up appearances. Remember when at least appearing to have ethics used to matter?

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

But she didn't donate blood or money!

[fes42.livejournal.com]

If you ask me this is bigger than Sept 11.

[king-tirian.livejournal.com]

This is a surprise, why? Condi was in charge of the National Security Administration during the greatest national security breach in our nation's history, and she was promoted from that. Why would we expect her to do a better job of communicating with our allies during a natural disaster of epic proportions?