XPost: alt.wildland.firefighting, alt.los-angeles, alt.politics.democrats XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics

https://www.ocregister.com/2025/01/15/fires-likely-to-incinerate-the- career-of-karen-bass/

When disaster strikes, the public expects its elected officials to project
an image of leadership. Hence, Californians have watched Gov. Gavin Newsom
show up at the Los Angeles wildfires, where he has expressed condolences, answered questions and promised billions of dollars in disaster aid. He’s announced useful reforms that will streamline rebuilding efforts.

There’s plenty to criticize about the governor’s overall policies, but
there’s no question he’s taking the right tack. But what about Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass? Disasters offer unexpected leadership tests. Quite
frankly, she’s failed it in a spectacular way. Her bewildering response
may put an end to her political career, as withering criticisms continue.

State and national politicians are blasting her response. She’s largely
refused media interviews. The owner of the Los Angeles Times announced his regret for his newspaper’s endorsement of her in 2022. (We have no such
regret, our editorial board endorsed Rick Caruso over Karen Bass.) 92,000 Angelenos have signed a recall petition declaring “the city has been
woefully unprepared to ensure the safety and well-being of its residents …
and leadership has been nowhere to be found.”

“If you look at her replies (on social media) now, she could be posting a
video of her literally running into a burning building and taking a child
out of there, and people would still be replying ‘resign!,’” one community watchdog told Politico. That hurts. Previously she had a decent image and
led some notable reforms on housing (despite some backsliding). But when
it mattered most, Bass was out of her depth.

The criticisms are spreading as quickly as the fires. “As the Palisades
fire exploded in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, Mayor Karen Bass was posing for
photos at an embassy cocktail party in Ghana,” the Times reported this
week. Other publications noted her campaign promise not to travel abroad,
but she left for Africa as weather reports predicted a windstorm. When
this is the coverage from mainstream media publications, you know a
liberal politician is in trouble.

The most cringe-worthy video – and one that will no doubt circulate widely
if she runs for re-election – came as she exited the military plane from
Ghana. A reporter asked her questions and she stood there awkwardly in
stony silence. The questions were tough, but not particularly hostile.
They were questions virtually everyone was asking or at least thinking.

Bass didn’t do much better in follow-up TV coverage, as she dodged and
weaved. The mayor of the nation’s second-largest city ought to have the political skills to say something relevant and not look like a deer in the headlights. Her media team has emphasized that the mayor is busy at work helping secure state and federal aid. That’s no doubt true, but a large
part of a leader’s job is to act like a leader, to show compassion and
project an in-charge image.
The fire, of course, raises serious long-running policy questions about
the city’s preparedness, in terms of brush-clearance, water availability
and fire-fighting resource issues. This Editorial Board routinely
complains about our state’s focus on ephemeral issues while it neglects
its basic public-safety and infrastructure responsibilities.

The silver lining: The wildfires will focus attention on whether the
current leadership is up to the challenge and whether voters are ready for
a self-correction. In the meantime, Bass is the poster child for how not
to handle a disaster.


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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

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