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September 09, 2005 08:00 AM UTC

Average Voter Guy on Hurricane Katrina and Politics

  • 27 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Last month we introduced you to Average Voter Guy (AVG), a guest blogger we recruited to give you the inside scoop on what regular voters in Colorado might be thinking. With the discussion about who is to blame over the poor response to Hurricane Katrina, we thought it would be a good idea to ask AVG what he thinks and who he might hold politically accountable. Hurricane Katrina is a political issue, and both Democrats and Republicans are playing it as such and pointing fingers (11 Republicans voted no on the relief bill, after all).

Politically-minded folks have their own opinions about who should take the blame, but from a political perspective, the opinions that matter are those of the average voter. With that in mind, remember that AVG is a well-educated professional who is a registered Independent. He always votes, but he does not follow politics regularly. Here’s what he had to say:

How closely have you been following the news about Hurricane Katrina?

I’ve followed pretty closely from the beginning, starting with CNN and The Weather Channel during the storm, followed by cnn.com and local papers in the aftermath.

What are your thoughts on the response and relief after Katrina?

I think it makes sense to begin with my initial thoughts after Katrina went over Florida and built strength: There’s a 190-mph hurricane headed for coastal cities in approximately 24 hours. This is bad. One of those cities was, for some reason, built below sea level. This is worse. I hope a recovery plan is underway RIGHT NOW.

I mention this only because much of the coverage I’ve read seems to center of how quickly various persons/organizations responded to the disaster. But this wasn’t a tsunami. Anyone with a TV, Internet access, or daily newspaper saw this coming. Considering Katrina actually diminished by 40 or so mph from what was expected, I have trouble accepting that there wasn’t any expectation of significant damage.

Since I began thinking that way, I’ll say that the response effort seemed slow. I realize numerous hurricanes build every season, and anticipated damage often amounts to little or nothing. But this hurricane was clearly stronger, wider, and more certain to strike than any in recent memory. So I expected, at the least, the enunciation of a plan of recovery – on the state and national level – even if that plan encountered problems and had to be amended. Clearly no amount of planning would create a quick fix; but silence seemed to pervade. I think the N.O. Mayor knew what kind of sound a tree makes when it falls in the woods.

All that said, this disaster was so horrible that any relief plan would likely have been inadequate. So government officials at any level would probably be blamed for not acting fast enough, even if they were.

Who, if anyone, do you hold responsible for the problems after Katrina, and why?

Okay, in the face of the horrible images and stories hitting us all from various media, I’m going to dismiss the lack of foresight on the local and state level…

That’s not to say they’re free from responsibility in that area; of course they aren’t. But there’s a huge national outcry, and it has little to do with the city’s levees. People are upset to see suffering, and the longer they have to see it, the more upset they become. The backlash seems to mostly be about response.

Let’s start with the local level. A key question here is, what do you do when your local resources are drowned? Right or wrong, I think most people assume that a city devastated to such a degree is unable to help itself. Perhaps there could have been a better local plan, but when the choices are evacuate or drown, I think it’s unrealistic to think the city could have had many options on hand regardless of pre-storm decisions. The N.O. Mayor has shown a shocking degree of inadequacy as a leader. I’ll state that, when you feel you’re being ignored, there’s probably a better tactic than continually pointing out that fact. If deaf ears are the problem, raising your voice doesn’t work. But he needed help, and panicked.

At the state level, the problem was focus. Relief teams (also from MS and AL) seemed to enter with good intentions and little else. What Louisiana needed was a stronger voice from its governor. However, there are two key points here: One, the closer disaster hits to home, the harder it is to distance yourself pychologically. That doesn’t excuse him from not exercising more leadership, but I have to think he was in a more difficult situation than anyone based in Washington. Two, since the flooding, etc. clearly called for immediate assistance, the help of neighboring states was a necessity. New Orleans needed whoever could get there quickest. I won’t pretend to know the role of the governor in advising, say the Alabama Guard, but as an AVG, I assume a situation that calls for interstate workings creates the need for national supervision.

So we’re up to the feds. I’ve quickly dismissed snide comments about Bush’s tan, or Condoleeza Rice buying Broadway tickets the day after the devastation, or the reality of our equine-trained FEMA Director. These kinds of complaints are the unfocused whining that have prevented Bush’s detractors from mounting any serious opposition to him in the first place. I’m also going to ignore figures and reports I’ve read – that Corps of Engineers have known this was going to happen, reported as much to the federal government, and saw their funding dramatically slashed anyway.

Let’s be honest – most voters have little interest in math. What they do have an interest in is what our media bombards them with. You eat what you’re force-fed. And so everyone knows about New Orleans, and everyone has to wonder why someone didn’t take the reins immediately.

Pointing fingers is a useless exercise. There’s only one person who can snatch those reins without question, and it’s the President.

It doesn’t matter whose responsibility the recovery effort ultimately was. What matters, in a situation bad enough to be deemed a national
emergency, is that the President has to fix it or find someone who can. That may sound too basic, but it’s completely naive to think most people have any idea about how the levels of bureaucracy work on the state and national levels. What they do know is a national problem calls for a national solution, and when they see the problem get continually worse, the national solution can seem pretty slow.

Is this something that you think will be on your mind next November?

Of course. It’s a national crisis. Good or bad, the response of the party in power has to be a factor.

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27 thoughts on “Average Voter Guy on Hurricane Katrina and Politics”

  1. “Average Voter Guy” reminds me of those “single moms” who showed up at Bush rallies last year and turned out to be directors of Republican lobbying groups.  Pretending not to know the LA governor is female is a nice touch.

  2. I also liked that touch, pretending not to know the gov was female.  Coloradopols is growing progressively more blatant.  This post has the sole purpose of manufacturing the impression that the “average” voter blames the pres. 

    These tactics are exactly what hold you back, idiots.

  3. I don’t know… AVG getting the sex of the LA GOV wrong is telling. She kinda has been “the Goevernor who wasn’t” these last couple of weeks. Has she even made it out of Baton Rouge?

  5. Kool-aid drinkers! Do you get your news from anybody besides Mike Rosen?

    If you bothered to, you might know that “AVG” represents in these views the VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS.

    Today’s NYT —

    “In a poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan polling organization, two-thirds of respondents said Mr. Bush could have done more to speed relief efforts, and the number of respondents who said they disapproved of his performance jumped to 52 percent, from 48 percent in July and 43 percent in January.

    His overall approval rating, by comparison, was 40 percent, down 10 percentage points since January and 4 percentage points since July…”

    I know it’s hard for you Bushie dick-gaggers to accept, but you’re on the wrong side of this one. And America isn’t going to forget it.

  6. This site gets dumber by the minute.  Bane is posting the same stuff at 5280, the only R that posts seems to have no insider knowledge, PETER PETER PETER and now this!

    I can’t take it anymore! Pols I wouldn’t actually say it was fun while it lasted, but at least it was interesting.

  7. Just to clear the air on what the “VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS” think about when asked about whom is to blame for the Katrina response, the latest CNN/USA Today Gallup poll (hardly a right wing group)says that only 13% of americans blame President Bush.  I guess AVG and 13% are synonomous with “vast majority” of those… in Boulder.

  8. avergar voter guy is great.  i like the perspective. pols, the only way to improve upon this would be through the addition of an “average voter gal”  i’d like to see how they might differ on some issues.

  9. Yeah, I think Bush’s guitar playing really helped so he should keep climbing in the polls. Kinda reminded me of when Bush was reading to Florida schoolchildren a few years ago – unprepared, overwhelmed and helpless in an emergency.

  10. Let me tell you I have in the past held the job of reading mail for one of the elected officials in Colorado. I have also volunteered by knocking on doors and doing ID calls.  I also frequent gas stations, bars (upscale and dives) as well as supermarkets. 

    I’m not sure if this is blantant or not on coloradopols’s part.  I’m not sure if this guy is a diehard D or just leans that way.  I’m not sure who’s fault Katrina was.

    There’s one thing I am sure about. This guy is not average.  Average Voter Guy, write letter to politician guy, answer phone survey guy, give me another Coors Light guy, I’ll order a scotch on the rocks guy, putting gas in my SUV guy is much much much MUCH dumber and more inarticulate than this guy.  Average Voter Guy doesn’t know shit. And Average voter guy’s English is suspect at best. 

    This guy- not average at all

  11. As a “Bushie dick-gagger” I still have two presidential elections in my portfolio. How many have you won in the last 6 years? Hmmm! Being a leader isn’t about popularity but conviction and backbone no matter what the polls say. The president doesn’t lead based on polls.
    AVG is full of Sh_ _! I thought it was an interesting concept but his answers were very revealing. Hmmm!

  12. Rich – If the president doesnt lead based on polls, Why is Rove responsible for determining policy initiatives? The truth is the policy selection  has been taken over by pollsters.

    If there’s so much leadership going on, why does Bush only travel to speak in Utah & Idaho? If he so convinced he’s right, why not persuade someone else instead of rehashing the same speech from 2003 over and over again?

    Typical R – can dish it out by the pound but cant take it.

  13. Transparent,

    If Bush is leading by the polls, why is he driving to success on his agenda, accomplishing his mission as his numbers drop?

    Seems to me that if he wanted to lead by polls he would be turning left by now. Watch for conservative supremes and please stop funding the lies! No on C. Yes on D.

  14. This is for get Real, Done and the rest of you who agree with them. What a bunch of whiners. Anything tyhat you don’t believe must be a big conspiracy. I particularly like how misidenfiying the LA governor as a man must be some master plan to fool people that CP concocted. Give me a break. You guys are idiots.

  15. Right on Crank!  The vast majority don’t blame the president, but AVG does.

    As soon as AVG was introduced I pegged ColoPols for trying to hide another liberal viewpoint on their site — and saying it wouldn’t take but his first post to know his true leanings.  Who cares if he is an unaffiliated voter — he’s a LIBERAL.  In his first line he admits getting his news from CNN – as if that is some trusted news source.

  17. AVG is getting a taste of what goes on in the nasty world of politics.  Diverse opinions are not tolerated and name calling ensues.  Most people I know who don’t follow politics share opinions much like AVG, partisans exonerate or completely blame Bush.  Welcome to the political world AVG, where measured thoughtful reflections are taboo.

  18. Transparant: Managing by polls is different than election strategy. As Keith said, if the president were leading by poll, we wouldn’t be looking at Roberts as a SC nominee. Just wait for the next nominee, you’re gonna love it! He wouldn’t have taken on the Social Security debate. He would have backed off on UN reform. He would have pulled out of Iraq. He would have lost the election. And if you polled the R base the medicare/caid debacle would not have been passed. He has values, whether you like it or not, he leads. NO on C Yes on D! AVG is not average!!

  21. I agree.  AVG is not very average.
    How about leveling the field some?  How about a Joe Six Pack Guy and a Susie Soccer Mom?  You’re sure to find some “U’s” amongst them who only pay attention to politics about mid October.

  22. Bitch and Moan, Bitch and Moan,  this is a very well rounded site as much as the crying Republicans would like to say it isn’t, anything independent of being Democratic or Republican automatically becomes liberal in their world. 

    And I think the key phrase is Average Voter Guy…how often does joe sick pack or Susie Soccer Mom really vote? 

    Here is a helpful link for all the Republican whiners out there that think just like a two year old that No on C and Yes on D is funny…hey Beavis that was a good one.

    Republican Campaign Tools

  24. “how often does joe sick pack or Susie Soccer Mom really vote?”

    That is the point, Marshall.  About once every 4 years.  They come out for the General Election in the Presidential election cycle.

    You must not door-knock very often.  And your assumption that I am an “R”, because I don’t think AVG is average is completely wrong.  He makes more money, and is far more educated than the Joes and Susies I’ve met making my rounds.  AVG votes in EVERY election.  That is not average.  Most people only bother every four years.  Check your numbers!

  25. It seems to me average guy has a lot of common sense and that’s what makes him “average.”  This is America and what happened was not supposed to happen to Americans.  Who would’ve thought that New Orleans and Louisiana were supposed to fend for themselves–according to the Buishie spin and denial after their paralysis when action was needed.  Average guy, who maybe doesn’t listen to Rush or O’Reilly, is thinking where was the President when a part of America needed American help?  Why were they twiddling their thumbs while the situation spun out of control?

    Why indeed.

    And this is the guy who was supposed to protect us.  Not in August, that’s for sure.  Or September either.

  26. What I’m curious about is why the obvious Rs out there are so quick to ply the liberal label, but do not bother to offer justification for the actions of the leaders they blindly support by name-calling away any potentially (note I said potentially, not definite) negative look at the leadership situation.
    Why does AVG have to be a scam, instead of just one guy’s view? Why is it better to denounce liberals instead of show the good of what the Rs promote? Is there not any good to promote? Oh yeah, Karl Rove made the rules… and we all know how hard it is to change the government and politics once it’s in motion. (Side note: How long before Rovian and Machiavellian are listed in the thesaurus as synonyms? A Prince by any other name… Any takers?)

    On to another aspect of this discussion. Since when is common sense defined by television channel choice? What does this say about people who would choose to watch Spike or Animal Planet during hurricane coverage (or listen to Sean Hannity or The Al Franken Show) on any news channel?
    Oddly enough, I’ve found in my higher educational travels that average people do watch both CNN and FOX News, not just one or the other. For one class assignment, I spent four weekend hours at the mall foodcourt of a relatively conservative metro suberb asking people (of various ages, races, genders, economic situations, pet species ownership, and probably even politics) what they thought of the media’s ethics and ability to avoid bias. People called a spade a spade, saying that Fox was more conservative and CNN was more liberal, with ABC News somewhere in the middle. The people who gave me the most thoughtful answers were the ones who watched multiple media outlets, including both CNN and FOX News. The majority of people said they did not trust any one media source enough to put all faith in it — an important point, I think. The people who felt the strongest about the media’s bias, L or R either way, were the ones who said they only watched one channel for their news source.
    People who only seek to confirm what they think they know are destined to confirm it, one way or another.

  27. If I may offer an answer to your first question–why do they attack any criticism by smearing the critic rather than deal with the substance, the answer is because that’s what they do.

    It’s an integral part of their ideology. Rush, Cheney, O’Reilly, Rumsfeld, Hannity, Georgie, the whole Republican mean machine is about bullying.  There are no facts which are inconsistent with their ideology.  Period.  End of story.  Anyone who says there are, must be a liberal, or must have read it in the (sneer) NY Times.  [Never mind the endless lies from the promoters of their ideology.]

    It’s like an authoritarian cult, including the requirement of genuflection to the leader.  Their modus operandi is guided by the philosophy that either you’re with us or we must destroy you (so to speak) and we destroy you by bullying you, calling you names, etc.

    In my humble opinion.

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