Katrina, Rita, Santa Ana

24 October 2007



California Fires Offer Bush Another Disaster to Fight

Hundreds of houses have burned to the ground, and half a million Californians have evacuated their homes. Firefighters have come from hundreds of miles away to try to save something in the seven counties that are now federal disaster areas. Californian officials say simply that there aren’t enough resources to fight the fires. By tomorrow, the weather pattern will have shifted, and the Santa Ana winds that fan the fires every year will be gone. Then, the clean up will begin, and the Bush administration may once again prove that it can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

The hurricanes that drowned New Orleans two years ago took away any mantle of competence that the White House might have merited. As an American city died, the president stayed on his ranch in Texas to clear brush (surely by now he has deforested all of Crawford, or does he have brush flown in by special presidential order?). The photos of him looking out of Air Force One at the city showed a man in over his head, not knowing where to start, or whether to start.

In that case, his incompetence was compounded by a rather bungled effort by local officials to do some good for the people. Louisiana Governor-elect Bobby Jindal won his new job over the week-end in large part due to the fact that out-going Governor Blanco had done such a poor job that she opted not to run again.

In California, there is a better quality of local government. Arnold Schwarzenegger has shown that he is much more than a muscled movie star. He has served the state reasonably well, and he has a “let’s-get-it-done” outlook that is mirrored up and down the state. There are, as always, some clowns and some crooks, but overall, one would rather be governed by those in office in California than by those in office along the Gulf Coast.

In the end, though, the fires’ aftermath will overwhelm the market solutions that Mr. Bush loves so dearly. Insurance rates will soar, communities will need rebuilding with better fire protection, and California is going to need more firefighting equipment (read: higher taxes). If San Diego doesn’t look better a year from now, and if next year’s fires (and there will be fires next year) aren’t better contained, the GOP will have even more explaining to do.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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