From today's New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Dear Mr. President:

          We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our

devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not

working, we’re going to make it right."

          Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise

before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

          Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one

main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi

River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are

interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships,

barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

          Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s

bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing

their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue

the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and

medical supplies.

          Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who

work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city

via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning,

that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed

into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown

New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid

Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show

story Friday morning.

          Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people

whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those

who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad

song about how our city was impossible to reach.

          We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after

our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been

pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who

could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

          Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he

allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from

the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t

know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the

Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have

been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially

higher.

          It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people

inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It

should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So

why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We

learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened,

that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So

what did state and national officials think would happen to

tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning,

overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food,

water and other essentials?

          State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said

the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!"

          Every official at the Federal Emergency Management

Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said

his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of

storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention

Center. He gave another nationally televised interview

the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people

at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least

one, if not two meals, every single day."

          Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told

him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

          That’s unbelievable.

          There were thousands of people at the Convention Center

because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many

people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles

could have gotten there, too.

          We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American

than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic

Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific

Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses

should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous

as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

          Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise

to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.