I’m getting pretty tired of hearing the comparisons between the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina versus the Obama administration’s response to Haiti. The people criticizing President Obama are neglecting to remember the difference between the United States’ role in the International Community versus the federal government’s role in achieving ‘domestic tranquility.’

The earthquake in Haiti was unpredicted, whereas Hurricane Katrina was forecasted. The strength of the levees’ prior to the arrival of the hurricane was clearly in question, and some doubted they could hold the overflow from Lake Pontchartrain. The fact that the strength of the hurricane was predicted properly coupled with knowledge of the damage that it did on its way to the Gulf of Mexico somehow didn’t set off warning signs for the Bush government to prepare for the worst.

This alone makes the delay in assistance to the Gulf Coast almost as much of a tragedy as the hurricane itself. In 2005, the homeland security adviser Frances Townsend acknowledged that the Bush White House was not adequately prepared for the hurricane. I find it shocking that Bush’s administration was not adequately prepared for something it knew was coming. Funny, as that’s somewhat microcosmic to the Bush White House.

Conversely, there was almost no warning of the Haiti earthquake. Not only is Haiti a third-world country, but it has a history of relying on the United States for assistance. The infrastructural calamities in Haiti right now are atrocious, but they were considered atrocious by most standards even before the earthquake. Haiti will be relying heavily on the U.S. as it has in the past and because the U.S is still viewed as a global superpower despite economic hardships.

China, another global superpower, certainly isn’t helping out too much as the country appears to be exponentially more concerned with making sure Chinese citizens are all right. China’s response to the earthquake has shown its infancy as a legitimate player in the global scene, and the U.S., among other countries, has been picking up the slack.

‘It’s above and beyond what anyone should expect the U.S. to give to another country,’ said senior communications and rhetorical studies major Vinny Zingale. He’s referring to the $100 million that has been pledged by the U.S. government toward Haiti relief efforts. ‘We might be giving too much with all the problems in America,’ Zingale said.

Fact of the matter is that aside from Haiti being an international issue that has to go through the international community, those bureaucracies have slowed the Obama administration down. While those same bureaucracies slowed down the Bush administration’s response time to Katrina, it is highly less excusable for the Republicans to say Obama’s reaction was too slow as he had to endure domestic and international bureaucracies.

Another reason why people should not criticize Obama is because I’m relatively sure there is a lot more going on that Obama’s Administration has to worry about. Bush was fighting two wars; Obama is trying to finish them. A republican congress was not even thinking about a universal healthcare system, Obama is trying to champion one. The economy was peaking as Bush was president; Obama is trying to figure out a way to keep it out of a dark valley. Bush was doing what he saw fit to take care of terror abroad, Obama has the responsibility of doing that and dealing with the attempted terrorism plot of the homeland which further criticized his administration.

The Bush administration had ample opportunities to help take care of a problem right after the fact, but was slowed down by bureaucracy and arrogance that the problem wouldn’t be as bad as it actually was.

People need to get off Obama’s back. Do not criticize him for being slow to clean up Haitian debris when he also has to pick up Bush’s.

David Kaplan is a sophomore broadcast journalism and political science major. His column appears weekly, and he can be reached at dhkaplan@syr.edu

Published on January 26, 2010 at 12:00 pm