Remember when Bush went to New Orleans back in April and posed for a photo op with 74-year old Ethel Williams in her ruined home and made a big speech about how rebuilding the city and her home? I remember it. He made a lot of promises.
It’s a shame he’s not really keeping them.
She’s a resident of the Upper Ninth Ward whose home had to be totally gutted after the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina receded. President Bush stood with Williams that day and said she’d get help rebuilding her life.
“We’ve got a strategy to help the good folks down here rebuild,” the president said that day. “Part of it has to do with funding; part of it has to do with housing; and a lot of it has to do with encouraging volunteers from around the United States to come down and help people like Mrs. Williams. So we’re proud to be here with you, Mrs. Williams, and God bless you.”
That was a big day for Williams. Volunteers from Catholic Charities showed up in the morning and cleared out her house. Everything was taken, even the walls and the flooring. Then, with just a half-hour of warning, the president of the United States arrived.
But since that day, not much has happened. Williams’ house has stood gutted, just as it was when the president left.
Big surprise. It made for a great photo op, though, so Bush got what he wanted out of it.
And the sad part:
Spoken like a True Believer.