Just heard NPR’s Robert Siegel interviewing Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff. Chertoff suggested that the report by NPR’s John Burnett that 2,000 people without food or water, "living like animals" at the Convention Center in New Orleans, was just "rumours". Chertoff was content to robotically spout talking points about how food and water are getting to their "staging points" — wherever the hell they are.
Siegel, to his great credit, did not let Chertoff off the hook. "These aren’t rumors, they’re seeing thousands of people here!"
That’s what we’re dealing with: A total lack of recognition of the problem, a total lack of leadership, going straight to the top. (Condi Rice went shopping today.) We are desperate for leadership, and our leaders are nowhere to be found.
Michael Chertoff must resign. He is utterly incapable of dealing with a disaster; as such he simply must go.
