Hurricane Katrina

I sat down to write a letter to editor of my local paper tonight. I wanted to write about the failure of leadership we have in White House. It was not as easy as I thought it would be. If you have read my previous posts, I tend to ramble on. I can't do that in a letter to the editor. There is a word count limit of 250 words. I thought it would not be a problem, so I just sat down and started to write. I put most of my thoughts on the screen and decided it was time to check on the word count. 362 words! OK, need to cut back. I dropped the last couple of paragraphs, threw out a few words here and there, added a closing to the letter and checked again. 264 words. OK, I getting closer. Need to tighten up some of the thoughts, drop extra words (isn't that what you are suppose to do with writing? Just leave the words that are suppose to be there?) I managed to get it down to 243 words, so I think I have it. You may think there is more that can be dropped (and an editor will have the same thoughts), but here is what I wrote:

It saddens me to read about the loss of life tragedy in New Orleans. It also saddens me when I see the lack of leadership this country has in the White House. And because of this lack of leadership, thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of people have died needlessly. During this tragedy, George Bush has show the country that he has no idea what to do in a crisis. As long as he can talk about how he is 'fighting the terrorist over there so we don't have to fight them over here', he is in a comfortable role. But if he has to actually think on his feet and show some real leadership, he is a complete failure.

Where was President Bush as New Orleans was going under water? On vacation. Where was Vice President Cheney? Closing on the purchase of another house. Where was Secretary of State Rice? Attending a Broadway play, buying thousand dollar shoes. Is this how true leaders act in a crisis?

When the administration gets called on their slow reaction, what excuse do we hear? "We couldn't do anything until we were asked by the local authorities." " The proper paperwork had not been filed." Excuse me? The proper paperwork had not been filed? A true leader would say "The heck with the paperwork, let's get to work."

I wonder if the American people will now wake up and see what we have in the White House.

I plan to send it in tomorrow (have some other things to do tonight). Don't know if it will get published, but I at least tried. And hey! I did some writing.