[Vision2020] Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer (September 4, 2005)

[Tom Hansen]

Copied and pasted below is a portion of the transcript from last Sunday's
(September 4, 2005) "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer

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Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News anchor and Face the Nation host Bob
Schieffer.

A personal thought. We have come through what may have been one of the worst
weeks in America's history, a week in which government at every level failed
the people it was created to serve. There is no purpose for government
except to improve the lives of its citizens. Yet as scenes of horror that
seemed to be coming from some Third World country flashed before us,
official Washington was like a dog watching television. It saw the lights
and images, but did not seem to comprehend their meaning or see any link to
reality. 

As the floodwaters rose, local officials in New Orleans ordered the city
evacuated. They might as well have told their citizens to fly to the moon.
How do you evacuate when you don't have a car? No hint of intelligent design
in any of this. This was just survival of the richest. 

By midweek a parade of Washington officials rushed before the cameras to
urge patience. What good is patience to a mother who can't find food and
water for a dehydrated child? Washington was coming out of an August
vacation stupor and seemed unable to refocus on business or even think
straight. Why else would Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert question aloud
whether New Orleans should even be rebuilt? And when he was unable to get to
Washington in time to vote on emergency aid funds, Hastert had an excuse
only Washington could understand: He had to attend a fund-raiser back home. 

Since 9/11, Washington has spent years and untold billions reorganizing the
government to deal with crises brought on by possible terrorist attacks. If
this is the result, we had better start over.

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Perhaps now somebody somewhere will assume some responsibility.

Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of
others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of
hope."

Robert F. Kennedy
(1925-1968, American Attorney General, Senator)