Condoleeza Rice Regrets Actions During Katrina, But Why?

by Sheri Mitchell

In her new book, Rice says she regrets going to a play and shopping for shoes during hurricane Katrina. After all she was Secretary of State and Black and there were thousands of Black people affected by the tragedy shouldn't she have been doing something?


Personally I don't know what she could have done. She couldn't put on her Wonder Sister cape and go save all of her fellow African Americans in the disaster area, or shore up the substandard levies all by herself. She asked what she could do and she was told, we will let you know if we need you. So she went to a play in NYC and decompressed after weeks of traveling, negotiating with foreign leaders and defending our Country's actions to the world.

The next day there was an article published chastising her for going to the play and not being in Washington. Politicians aren't perfect, shocker I know, but they are people that need to relax sometime even if they are supposedly responsible for the fate of the image of our Nation in the world. What could she do while the wind was blowing and the storm was surging over the levies and devestating the Gulf? No one can be on all the time.

To me it doesn't matter what you did before, where all there was to do was wait and see. What I think matters is what you do after the storm passes and you can get in there and evaluate the damage and not fly over it like her Boss, President Bush. The media is there to point out all of their faults and misteps, either real or preceived. But at the end of the day she is just a person who couldn't do anything to change the situation so she took the opportunity to relax before having to jump into high gear and after the storm was over. She didn't sit around or go to any plays then.

And who says just because she is Black she is any more responsible for the fate of the population of the Gulf region because so many have the same skin tone. Isn't that a bit racist? There were a lot of low county poor Whites too so who was responsible to sit around waiting to help them. She was responsible for the State of the Nation not just the ones that look like her so to put the race card in play in that situation is small minded. The handling of the disaster leaves a lot to be desired on many levels but never did I include Condoleeza's actions as part of those failures. So I say don't beat your self up Rice, you did what you could, there are only so many things you can control the rest you let others handle and move on.