Staff Reports
Hurricane Katrina was an unmitigated disaster that brought with it not only historic flooding but also a historic amount of criticism leveled at the Bush administration. In 2005, President George W. Bush became the lightning rod for criticism as many in the mainstream media had him in their crosshairs, particularly for his alleged slow response. The media’s narrative painted him as indifferent, especially as the storm’s victims were predominantly black. Meanwhile, the more embarrassing truth is that these same critics were zeroing in on racial factors to play a political game, conveniently forgetting the humanitarian aspect of the disaster.
Fast forward to the present day, and there is another storm on the horizon—Hurricane Helene. This recent tempest wreaked havoc in the Southeast, touching down in areas loaded with conservative voters. Here, under the Biden-Harris regime, the response has been glacial at best. Helene struck hard on September 26 and 27, yet FEMA waited an additional 48 hours before it could muster the energy to issue an emergency declaration. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to shake things up to convince FEMA to include more counties in the declaration.
Biden-Harris' Helene Response Has Been Way Worse Than Katrina https://t.co/W4a5QmGcGV
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) October 5, 2024
Even more alarming is the belated deployment of military help. The 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg didn’t get activated until a full week after the storm. Apparently, urgent situations don’t trigger a sense of urgency in the current administration, forcing communities to fend for themselves. One almost begins to wonder if the local populace is too busy navigating their problems without the guiding hand of government micromanagement.
The great irony here is highlighted by the press’s silence surrounding Biden and Harris’s failure to respond adequately to Hurricane Helene. Where was the media chorus denouncing bureaucratic foot-dragging as the rescue efforts experienced unnecessary delays? While Bush was publicly lambasted for similar delays after Katrina, the New York Times has opted to pivot to issues like January 6, conveniently ignoring the messy bureaucracy that has left communities in dire need of aid after Helene.
As local citizens rise to the occasion, offering assistance and forming rescue efforts, they find themselves stymied by bureaucratic red tape. While private operators are ready to jump in and do the heavy lifting, government agencies are more concerned with balancing regulations than getting help to those who need it. A reasonable person might even ponder whether that same attention to race and politics would have given the same freedom of media scrutiny if the victims of Helene were of different demographics. The answer, unsurprisingly, is likely a resounding “no.”
With less enthusiasm from traditional media to investigate or criticize this administration, it’s up to those who are paying attention—whether in conservative media or social channels—to keep the spotlight on how federal agencies can and should act when disaster strikes. Rural Americans deserve better than lip service; they deserve action in their time of need, not a new set of delays and excuses. The help and attention that should accompany federal disaster response is, much like the press coverage, selectively applied.
