Condoleeza Rice On Hurricane Katrina: 'I Should Have Known Better'

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

By April Ryan, White House Correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks

Condoleezza Rice says she "should have known better" than to leave Washington as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans in 2005, writing in her book, and admitting in a telephone interview Wednesday with theGrio, that she let the president down.

In her book, No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington, former George W. Bush National Security Advisor and the nation's 66th Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice chronicles the highs and the lows of her time in the Bush administration, describing her pivotal role in shaping policy and trying to stave off crises at the White House. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, she admits she didn't succeed at the latter. CONTINUE....

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Politico.com: Obama Takes Heat Bush Did Not

By: EURweb.com

Politico.com points out a double standard that has surfaced surrounding the politicizing of an attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack on a Northwest Airlines flight landing in Detroit.

 

 Politico.com: Obama Takes Heat Bush Did Not....

Now What? Black People Won’t Have Bush to Kick Around Anymore

By: Gregory P. Kane

On Tuesday around noon, it became official: Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States, and black people won’t have President George W. Bush to kick around anymore. Some of us may find that hard to do.

Just think of it: NAACP board Chairman Julian Bond won’t be able to give his annual anti-Bush tirade at the organization’s convention. No more cracks about Republicans being America’s version of the Taliban. No more NAACP Voter Education Fund “issue ads” all but claiming Bush supports lynching.

Bush-bashers who skewer him for supporting the No Child Left Behind Act will feel an emptiness inside, although they were on shaky logical grounds to begin with. Really, what can you do with otherwise intelligent people who make remarks like this: “No Child Left Behind is awful, and it’s underfunded.”

A columnist colleague of mine said pretty much that to NAACP Washington, D.C. bureau chief Hilary Shelton back in November. Shelton responded by agreeing wholeheartedly. Neither he nor my colleague quite grasped the notion that bad laws shouldn’t be funded at all, “under” or otherwise. By contrast, Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights did have enough integrity to point out that the NCLB law did have some good provisions.

The NCLB law was a bipartisan effort supported by none other than Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, a Democrat with some pretty liberal street cred. That didn’t stop the Bush-bashing when it came to NCLB and darn near everything else.

COMMENTARY....

Commentary: He Can Say What He Likes, but Obama’s Adopting the Bush Administration’s Stance on the War

By: Joseph C. Phillips

After months of being transfixed by empty slogans, supporters of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama are finally listening, and many do not like what they are hearing. Critics have charged him with flip-flopping on a number of issues, most significantly his stance on the war in Iraq.

During this campaign, Obama has been adamant that as president, he would “set the mission” to end the war and bring the troops home in 16 months. In what the liberal paper of record, the New York Times, identified as a flip (or a flop depending on one’s inclination), Obama now says he will consult with his generals in order to refine his promise to quickly remove troops.

I am disinclined to view this as a change of position. Though he has sought to reassure the left by responding with a hearty, “Don’t be confused, I will bring this war to a close when I am president of the United States.” It would appear that he has finally come around to my way of thinking. He has taken a more moderate approach based on an evolving situation on the ground.

COMMENTARY....

Commentary: Bush May Be Top Dog as a Hang-Out Buddy or Golf Partner, But as President, He’s a Real Mutt

By: Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com

As further evidence that you really do get what you pay for: Behold, George W. Bush.

This is a president the electorate picked up in the flea market of American politics. He came with no warranty, no product manual and only a questionable performance record. Still, the public bought him based on what the sellers said he could do.

Or, better put, it’s like getting a pet at the dog pound. Every now and then, you end up with a real winner who will bring unparalleled joy and service to the household. Many times, you end up with something barely tenable, rather on the lazy side or sickly. Sometimes, like this time, you find yourself stuck with trouble-on-the-paw -- the type that chews up your shoes, soils the furniture, barks throughout the night and terrorizes the neighbor’s kids.

COMMENTARY....