The BP oil spill is NOT "another Katrina"! (Graphic Image)

[Hyper_Eye]

There is no question that this spill is disastrous. The affects of it should not be downplayed and there needs to be investigations into what happened. BP can not be allowed to get away with this.

Having said that, anyone who says this is "Obama's Katrina" doesn't remember the horror of Katrina. As much as I absolutely can't stand what has happened I can not and will not compare oil floating in the Gulf to dead American's floating down the streets of a major U.S. city. These events are not comparable.

Will lives be shattered by this spill? Absolutely. Someone needs to pay for that. But 1,836 Americans died during Katrina. These were men, women, and children drowning in their own attics. They drowned in the street. Thousands and thousands of lives were permanently disrupted and they still live in ruins.

The bottom line is that right-wingers want to downplay the gigantic screw-up Bush was and compare Obama's reaction to this spill to the horror that was Katrina. They are wrong.

This is devastating:



This is something else:



And before anyone jumps on it I am very well aware of the rig workers that died. Those workers are important and I would not try to downplay their death in any way but there is a difference between death at the time of the incident and the amount of time Katrina victims were allowed to die. I am not saying there was nothing President Obama could do because obviously there were inspectors not doing their jobs but President Obama wasn't looking down from an airplane while workers burned days after the explosion.

[Scurrilous]

1. K & R

:thumbsup:

[babylonsister]

2. Rec'd. You're right, of course. nt

[time_has_come]

3. There are parallels

i don't like the blanket comparisons either though

[peace13]

4. In all fairness you should put a graphic warning on this.

I agree with your point but did not need that tonight. I will recover but some who look won't. Peace, Kim

[Hyper_Eye]

10. No problem. I apologize for that. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

5. I don't think it is helpful to compare these tragedies, especially for political reasons.

Over one month, and the current disaster is not over yet.

[flamingdem]

17. nice graphic nt

[Cant trust em]

6. It's not even analagous in terms of government response to a disaster.

We knew days before Katrina made landfall that it was going to be disastrous. Bush did nothing.

[Touchdown]

7. If the leak doesn't get stopped, it could be his Chernobyl instead.

That comparison was made Yesterday... by a liberal commentator.

[xchrom]

9. Well I don't know about HIS Chernobyl - but the effects on

The Gulf region?

At the very least - some Humble Pie is gonna get served.

[FrenchieCat]

8. Bush had been in office for how long when Katrina struck?

Was it like 5 years? :shrug:

So even with all of what you have accurately pointed out that makes these
disasters different,
so does 5 years vs. 15 months....
and of course, not to mention how many holds on Obama appointees in the senate?
and of course, not to mention that helping people on the surface vs. stopping
a volcanic oil blowhole 1 mile down underwater ain't the same......but some want to pretend,
so be it.

If I had to choose, I'd take the challenge of getting airlifted supplies to those who need it,
over having to scuba dive 5000 ft down to plug up a guzzling giant hole shooting up oil.

Obama's katrina was Haiti. That was a natural disaster (also caused by man-made issues) in which the aftermath of how it would be handled was going to be based largely on our government's response.

[saracat]

16. Jeebus, it doesn't freaking matter how long either was in office.This nation ought to be prepared

for catastrophes. Bush's lack of response is no excuse for our not being able to even have any clean up options for a leak that ought to have been anticipated, and clearly was bu some folks. it isn't as if there had never been an oil spill before. Obama had no business assuming drilling was "safe" and announcing it to be so when nearly everyone in the known world knew otherwise.

[Dr.Phool]

11. Not Katrina. Hiroshima maybe.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x538198

Check out Cousteau's film at this link.

It's even worse than we've imagined.

[Gman]

12. Calling this Obama's Katrina is the drop dead stupidest thing I"ve seen in a long time

[frustrated_lefty]

13. Ok, I'll bite.

I honestly lost everything to Katrina. Through perseverance, I led my children out. There was a moment when I thought I was giving up my life, going to be killed, to just get my kids to safety. When I thought I was dying, I gave instructions to my oldest boy...this is how you protect your family, this is how you care for those who depend on you.

You can't casually toss aside a way of life.

[Swamp Rat]

18. Some people will never understand this unless it actually happens to them

:hug:

[iamjoy]

14. Comparison Bugs Me Too

With Katrina, hundreds of people were dying over a period of several days. With BP's Deepwater Horizon explosion 11 men died at the time (first day). Since then, no people have died.

Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster. The Deepwater Horizon disaster was caused by corporate greed and carelessness.

With Hurricane Katrina, people died while our government scrambled to respond. With the Transocean Deepwater Horizon the Coast Guard was out on Day 1 looking for survivors.

With Hurricane Katrina, the wind and rain stopped after a matter of hours - sure the flood waters didn't recede right away, but logistically, it got no worse. Deepwater Horizon continues to dump 2 million gallons a day into the Gulf.

With Hurricane Katrina, the disaster was on the surface, or beneath flood waters deep as a house. The Deepwater Horizon is a mile beneath the surface of the ocean.

In a natural disaster, we rely on the government to help. With Katrina, there shouldn't have been any confusion about who was in charge. If a corporation screws up, shouldn't that company handle it? Is too much government involvement seen as a take-over of industry?

If we assume the near worst about our Presidents - Bush didn't care that people were dying. Obama doesn't care that fish are dying.
(that last one is for conservatives since Liberals do care about marine life). I will say this about President Obama, he has lost his environmental credentials.

[donheld]

15. It's not Katrina it's Chernoby!!!

[Toucano]

19. Give it time.

This accident will endure much longer than Katrina.

That said, I agree. It's not Katrina.

It was not predicted.
It was man-made.
It was caused by greed.


It's worse.

[JCMach1]

20. Yeah, the spill is far worse and will kill more people over time...

Plus this is a disaster in slow motion... the effects will be there for decades to come even if they plug the thing today.

But the OP is right on one point... it is apples and oranges.

It's like comparing a stroke to long-term heart disease. However, both will kill you just as dead in the end.

For example, let's see what the cancer rate is along the gulf coast 10-15 years from now. And that's not even counting the economic and environmental toll that will be extracted.