Posted by BEN BEAUMONT – Former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco gave her first post-governorship speech outside of her home state last night at the Clinton School. After joking that a “crisis of massive depression” hit Louisiana following the LSU Tiger’s loss at the hands of Darren McFadden and the Arkansas Razorbacks in late November, Blanco used her speech to look back on her career in public service, which was thrown into the spotlight during the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The former governor laid out many of the efforts her administration made during the crisis and offered advice to other communities when facing large natural disasters in the future. As expected, her visit drew quite a bit of media coverage. Here’s an excerpt from the Associated Press report:
Blanco warned that there must be communications systems in place that will work regardless of the catastrophe.
“You cannot coordinate if you cannot communicate,” she said.
She cautioned communities to prepare to survive on their own for at least 72 hours after disaster strikes. She said Louisiana called for federal assistance but did not get it for five days.
Blanco said inaccurate and exaggerated news reports after Katrina made a bad situation worse. She knew she would suffer politically because of the storm, she said, but she ordered her staff to stop defending her and to redirect their resources to saving lives.
In hindsight, however, she does not hesitate to lay blame.
“I think a local character said it best,” Blanco said. “He said, ‘If the president wants to frustrate terrorists in Iraq, send FEMA.’”
Blanco said the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina renewed the notion of public service in America, and she touted President Clinton’s work in promoting Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.
“Every person, even if they don’t care to admit it, knows in their gut we would have seen a much different federal response if Hurricane Katrina had happened under (Clinton’s) watch,” Blanco said.
Click here for the full story.