National Guard troops could not have stopped the hurricane or reduced its immediate devastation. However, a few 10,000 trained and organized troops available in the aftermath could well make a real difference in the on-going efforts to provide order, supplies, and assistance.
This administration is legendary for quickly recognizing potential political liabilities and mobilizing to counter them. And they are trying. The problem for them is that the video and 24/7 reporting make it obvious to everyone. Armed force could stop looters in New Orleans. Helicopters and Hummers could help the hundreds of people wading through dirty water. Only the National Guard could provide help on a scale that is commensurate with the need.
President Bush's credibility has been melting away as Americans belatedly correlate (1) the growing costs - money, lives, morality - of the war-without-end with (2) their knowledge that it was avoidable. A soldier's mother's vigil called more attention to the failures of leadership. Now mother Nature has mercilessly exposed how overextended we are. Everybody will feel it soon in higher gas prices - the auto service manager said today his supplier was raising prices $.40 overnight. We can be thankful that we share only a trivial part of our countryman's devastation. Releasing oil from the national reserve is a desperate effort to appear effective. The price of oil did not increase much because it is the refineries, not the crude oil, that is limiting. It is the limitations of our national leaders, now tragically exposed, that is the most damaging.
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