Bush set forth some astounding ideas converning the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Such a visionary response to this natural disaster, encompassing not only the cost of rebuilding a society but also of repairing social injustice, could have only come from a conservative like George W. Bush.

Now that President Bush and Governor Blanco have accepted blame for the slow response to the tragedy in New Orleans, now that political hay has been stacked to the ceiling of Washington’s barns, now that the finger-pointing in the media has become yesterday’s news, perhaps we will begin to see this country focus on the immense task at hand: rebuilding the Gulf Coast region on the United States of America. At this time, the people least concerned with whose job is at risk or what election is approaching are the devastated people of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

It is becoming clearer each day just exactly why the local, state, and federal governments could have never been prepared for such an event as this in the first place. The acrimony flowing like wine from the media outlets over the last several weeks will seem petty in the days to come. Community after community has been destroyed. This isn’t Florida where a hurricane passed through and damaged a few cities or towns before fizzling out into a rain storm. Though the devastation of the past hurricanes was horrible to those affected, they can never be compared to what took place along the Gulf Coast with Katrina. There is every reason to believe that had this hurricane been like any other the folks at FEMA, The Red Cross, and every other disaster responder would have zoomed in and saved the day. The scary truth is that there are not enough workers in all of those organizations combined to encompass this job. There is not enough money available in the South to deal with this catastrophe. How can one prepare for the unthinkable? Many claim that the leaders knew such an event could happen in New Orleans. Did they also know that every city and town east of New Orleans all the way to Mobile, Alabama, would be destroyed as well?

So much has been said about the slow response to the crisis in New Orleans. The fact is that New Orleans received help first. The media’s cameras insured that the ugly events taking place there would garner a response from the authorities: the squeaky wheel and all. To get an idea of just how impossible this initial task is, why not ask the media why there are still destroyed towns and hamlets that have not yet appeared on our television screens as of today? The simple answer is that there are not enough media cameras to cover this story—not enough reporters to stretch the length and breadth of this story. For instance, in Chalmette, Louisiana, a city just four miles from New Orleans in St. Bernard Parish, every single home in the entire town is damaged or destroyed. The entire place will have to be leveled. As of today, there has been very little if any media coverage. There has been no National Guard parade through the streets, no FEMA setting up shop, no Red Cross shelters, nothing. Why? Because all along the coast, through Mississippi to Alabama, the exact same scenario is being played out. There simply isn’t enough resource for this contingency, and there is no reason to suspect such resource would be available. America isn’t prepared for this because this has never happened before.

Thursday night, the president delivered what will one day be considered an historic oratory which not only set the course for recovery along the Gulf Coast but will also be the touchstone for future programs and organization, both public and private, which will spark a renaissance for the underclass and displaced of our society. Such a visionary response to this natural disaster, encompassing not only the cost of rebuilding a society but also of repairing social injustice, could have only come from a conservative like George W. Bush. Had some liberal made that speech, it would have been dismissed as another attempt by the left at socialism. Only a conservative’s conservative could paint such a bold picture of what must happen and be taken seriously. The argument can be made that the Bush administration has always been big-spending, but the fact remains that if anyone can make such a renaissance happen along the Gulf Coast of our country, and perhaps spill over into the rest of America, it is the conservative president of the United States. Perhaps some of what Bush wanted as a legacy will materialize. He may yet be known as the “Compassionate Conservative.” If he can bring his party to the table with the liberals who have long called for social reform, maybe he will become “a Uniter, not a Divider.”  History has opened a door for him. Being slow to respond to the unthinkable can be forgiven. Being slow to respond to fate’s call to lift an entire class of people out of a cycle of poverty and oppression cannot. My advice to President Bush: Ignore the carping and cat-calls of blind republicans, political liberals, gotcha media heads, and nay-Sayers of every stripe. Push forward with your proposals and be the visionary God intended you to be.