qThe following letter was written by a private citizen for publication in his local newspaper, and forwarded by a friend:

"Letter to George W. Bush

Listen up, Mr. President, because I'm not going to say this twice. You have been a pitiful, weak and pathetic Commander and Chief when the people of this country, your country, needed you in their darkest hour. You sabotaged the shoring up of the levees that protect the city of New Orleans from the flooding that is now occurring; you and your advisors knew that a major hurricane was on its way to the Gulf Coast and you stalled; you set up a Department you called "Homeland Security" and it failed to keep the people secure. You dilly-dallied in Crawford after Katrina hit, assumably reluctant to end your vacation and get back to the real job in Washington. You failed to immediately order sufficient troops, food, water, and medical supplies to New Orleans, other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi when it became so apparent that stranded people were in desperate need. You made a token flight over the destruction that Katrina wreaked, but you didn't tell your Air Force One pilot to set your safe airplane down so you could walk through the flooded, devastated neighborhoods or comfort the families who had lost everything. No, you waited until you had your public relations set up, and your photo opportunities in place before you dared to be with the people, your people, who look for your leadership.

You, Mr. President, are the worst excuse for the leader of the Free World anyone could possibly conceived of. While you were casting about for someone to blame, like the head of FEMA, or local government, you failed to respond to the frantic pleas from the mayor of New Orleans, you failed to order and provide for an evacuation to take place NOW. You let old people die from dehydration and lack of medical care; you watched from your comfortable place in Washington D.C. as mothers wept when their babies became listless and unresponsive; you clucked your tongue and shook your head as doctors and nurses called repeatedly from the hospitals where conditions deteriorated and patients were dying. You called the response "unacceptable".

Well, Mr. President, if this is so unacceptable then you're the man. It's on your back, Mr. President. You are the guy in charge. And every one of these people whose misery exceeds anything they could possibly have imagined in America, every mother, father and grandparent….they won't forget that their President did not come to their aid at once when their cities and their lives were destroyed. Your delay in leading, in ordering immediate aid is unforgivable. You abandoned your citizens.
You call yourself a dedication Christian. You talk about God frequently and have even suggested that you were chosen by God to lead this nation. I'm here to tell you and your administration that you need to study the principles of Christianity before you ever again dare to breathe the word. You need to understand that "loving your neighbor as yourself" and "caring for the least of these." are not a set of pretty words. You need to develop some compassion that is real and not staged.

We, the people of the United States, will neither forget nor forgive you for your failure to protect our own citizens in their hour of need. Never."

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I can only concur.

A