George Bush needs to step aside

Two things have become clear.

1. Fire FEMA Director Michael Brown.

FEMA director Michael Brown is either incompetent or a liar, and his only job seems to be giving non-stop interviews on TV when he should be coordinating hurricane relief. It's time for President Bush to appoint someone else who can handle the job, and give the guy $60,000 bucks to hire a spokesman.

2. President Bush needs to step aside.

It's time we talked about the elephant in the room. Bush isn't presidential, he never was, and we all knew it. He won reelection because John Kerry sucked, not because the majority wanted him in office. As a caretaker president, he might be fine, but when disaster hits we need a real leader, not some guy who simply isn't smart enough, and doesn't have the backbone or instinct to lead. We are witnessing first-hand what happens when a weak leader responds to a crisis. The crisis worsens, and people die.

I'd almost say that next time there's a terrorist attack we won't be so lucky, but in fact, we haven't been lucky at all. People are dying. An entire American city is gone from the face of the earth. And a good part of the blame goes to an "aloof" president (so says the Manchester Union Leader) who bullheadedly stayed on vacation two days after the storm hit (so says the Washington Times) and still hasn't been able to get his sea legs 5 days after the storm hit.

And now, the disaster response is a disaster itself. It's a chicken with its head cut off, and seemingly only getting worse and worse while people are starving and dehydrating, waiting for someone, anyone, to lead.

For those who are fans of the FOX TV shows "24." George Bush is the vice president who had to step in when the president was injured in a terrorist attack. The VP didn't want the job and certainly isn't up to the job, and basically, he just sits back in a wide-eyed panic. His aides say they need answers NOW, the country is falling apart as terrorists are striking, and the know-nothing scared-to-death but-proud-as-hell president just sits there and says "I'll have to get back to you."

The nation can no longer afford George Bush as president. Bush ought to just resign and leave office before he breaks something else, and since Congress is unlikely to impeach him (though they should). But at the very least, if the frat boy who would be president cares one lick about our country, George Bush should step aside and pass the hurricane relief baton to someone with the intelligence and guts to get the job done.

After this is all over, our country has a lot of hard thinking to do. We've got three more years of this president, and as New Orleans clearly shows, George Bush is not personally prepared to respond to a devastating attack on an American city, nor has he adequately prepared the nation with the four years he's had since September 11.

The next time George Bush panics, ignores a national crisis, or simply is incompetent in the face of a clear and present threat to our people, even more Americans will die.

And next time, Osama won't give us the advance warning we so graciously got from Katrina.