Where's New Orleans?

Easter Weekend 2007, originally uploaded by codyaya.

Two long debates, 18 candidates, four hours of naked ambition. No discussion of the great domestic failure of our times - the ongoing tragedy of the official national abandonment of New Orleans.

You would expect this from the Republicans; they posed as if angling for the mantle of Reagan at his tacky and Disneyesque "library" - all that's missing is the gruesome Leninesque attraction at the center - but they're really jockeying for the legacy of George W. Bush. They want the nomination of a failed political party, one that will have to be rebuilt from scratch after its fully disgraced leader finally leaves office.

The posed as "conservatives" but more or less spewed the same tired talking points that didn't seem conservative at all (excepting Ron Paul) and aimed their manly goodness at the mythical "Daddy Party" primary voters of clueless Beltway Bubble Babushkas like Maureen Dowd.

You might expect the cold Republicans to pass on an issue that their fearless leader has actually handled less competently than the war; after all, its religious right wing reacted to the destruction with statements like this one from Repent America director Michael Marcavage [tip Americablog]:

Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city. From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence,' New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. From the devastation may a city full of righteousness emerge.

Sure, they wouldn't actually say it, but the GOP candidates (four of whom bragged that they don't believe in evolution) embrace people like this because they know exactly how they'll vote if lied to in just the right tone.

Malign neglect is to be expected from the modern Republican Party, but where were the Democrats?

Why wasn't New Orleans front and center for the Democrats; why isn't a central issue on the campaign trail? Why don't all the candidate websites contain a plan, a proposal, the account of some working being done on behalf a great American city that is being allowed to die.

Here's a sad truth: American Idol did a better job in its recent fundraising campaign of highlighting the ongoing horror of southern Louisiana than did Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, and that talkative guy from Alaska in their nationally-televised first debate.

You know - Iraq is easy. The war is lost; it could never have been won in the first place. The troops will be coming home, and the chapter has basically be written. Iraq is a softball for the Democrats, even those who voted for authorization of force. It's an international calamity that will be felt for a generation, and we need a serious grown-up to clean up the mess. That's a quick story to tell voters.

New Orleans is much more difficult to campaign on. Yeah, the performance of the Bush Administration was criminal - but in this race, criticism on the left also demands solutions, demands results, demands collaboration and a plan. No progressive Democrat can merely run on Bush's failure in Louisiana - the base incompetence and the images of death and political abandonment have no shelf life; and Bush is not running.

Americans expect...check that...hope that Democrats can provide solutions, especially on a domestic issue. This is what we say we're good at.

My point is this: prove it.

New Orleans is failing, stagnant, dying. The do-gooders have left, the news crews have long-since packed the choppers and camera trucks. FEMA is auctioning off the trailers, some of which were never occupied. It's yesterday's news. New Orleans has half the population it did before Katrina. The drug trade has returned stronger than ever, and murders are surging. Basic health care is faltering, breaking down. the city's education system is being redrawn from the bottom up (this may be a good thing). Thousands of buildings remain abandoned. They're still pushing tourism and music (you can take a Katrina bus tour), but as RJ Eskow said this week: "It's a theme park in the middle of apocalypse." The media has moved on. The only time it shows up in a New York paper is when the Mets option a player to their Triple-A affiliate there.

If you're a top tier candidate for the Democratic nomination, you've got a big platform. You're allowed to parachute in and make some noise. You're allowed to call people out, to make bold proposals, to drag the sleepy, hung-over press corps with you.

My message to Senators Clinton, Obama, and Edwards (and you can throw in Biden and Dodd, if you'd like) is simple - this ain't the Senate. Go out and smack some people around on New Orleans. Blow off the inevitable photo opps, and start a few political fires. If a talented and deep pool of Democratic candidates for President cannot summon the political will to change the course of that wonderful city, who can?

Further, if the Democrats who want the Oval Office more than oxygen or water or sunlight can't expend their well-financed political capital to help save a dying city, to hell with 'em - for to hell, they certainly will belong.

Comments

[Tony Alva]

One of the reasons I think Dems have avoided talking about NOLA is that there is plenty of partisan blame that the post mortem on the disaster has revealed. If they leave it as is, the White House retains the blame in most people’s minds. The LA state and local officials botched things BADLY, just as badly as Bush’s knucklehead.

The other thing that keeps NOLA from re-population is a sad truth that I predicted and got hammered for when I first made the statement a few months after the storm: People, many of the underclass, have moved on and found a BETTER life in their adopted cities. Other than heartstrings, NOLA held no promise of a future for most of these folks and the change this disaster forced upon them, as traumatic as it was, provided the nudge that was necessary to get them out of the rut. I’m not saying it was a good thing at all. Many lost everything including loved ones, I know nobody would CHOOSE to have this be the way to change ones life, but it is what it is.. Many have realized that there is a big country out there where as before their world’s boundary were the streets and levies that demarked the ninth ward. Not to say life is grand for all those displaced, but for many it simply is. Why go back to a place that had no jobs before the storm, had a surging crime rate, and held no hope?

NOLA was a city struggling with serious decay long before the butterfly that flapped his wings creating Katrina was a little caterpillar. It was in as much of a decline as Detroit or Cleveland is. Both cities share the same problems: there is NOT enough work for the population to do. If you want to figure out what NOLA’s growth challenges are start by looking back long before the disaster. I spent a significant amount of time in NO before the storm and that is what I recognized to be the truth. Why isn’t Detroit, Cleveland, or Flint Michigan getting any debate attention? Maybe if they’re lucky, a storm will hit them and make it an election issue. I’m sure they’re all praying for just that…

[Slappy]

"Maybe if they’re lucky, a storm will hit them and make it an election issue."
Is this a joke? Sarcasm? You do seem to think many of the New Orleans citizen's are better off now.

"The LA state and local officials botched things BADLY, just as badly as Bush’s knucklehead."
Come on. Not a state in the union is prepared or could handle such a disaster. Only the Federal government has such strength.

I agree with you Tom. Why the Dems aren't all over this is puzzling to me. It was shocking to hear Bush on American Idol ask for help for poor African children and citizens of the United States in the same sentence. Without a hint of shame it is now acceptable for Americans to live under third-world conditions. No shame. Zero. They truly did drown the Federal government in a bath tub.

[Fitz]

Tony is correct – the real reason that the state of the rebuilding of New Orleans isn’t an issue for the Democratic candidates is that it would draw attention to the fact the much of the present day failure to achieve progress falls at the feet of the state and local authorities. In fact, the city of NO has been engaged in a running battle with the state of LA over the disbursement and use of federal funds. Net of federalizing the city, which I’m positive neither the city nor the state would endorse, there isn’t much that the federal government can do beyond creating, approving and funding programs. And, before you reflexive Bush haters fly into apoplectic rage, this isn’t a defense of the administration’s post-Katrina performance. However, if you are really concerned about or disturbed by the lack of progress of the rebuilding of the city, you need to look at the here and now. One could argue that the Feds should put up more reconstruction money, but that doesn’t guarantee that it would actually get spent or spent wisely.

I need to look no further than out my window at the WTC pit here in Manhattan to see the effect of state and local delays. Five years and eight months hence, there is only one privately re-built building (which sits outside of the WTC footprint), construction has just started on the new transit center and the site work for the first actual WTC site buildings, and, the demolition the last remaining, abandoned skyscraper is finally under way. And, even now, there are still rumblings that the new governor wants to put his imprimatur on the rebuilding plan.

[Tony Alva]

Slap,

Yes, it was sarcasm. Sarcasm addressing the fact that this post is about using the disaster as political fodder with not a reference, or suggestion to actually addressing/solving the problems of NOLA. Which is more impactful, actually fixing what can be fixed in NOLA, or blathering on and on about blame in a mostly meaningless debate? The state of LA is a heaping mess of corruption that would make Bill Campbell drool (sorry, local reference), most who are Dems. For the reasons Fitz has outlined, any plan at the federal level must utilize local ground troops to execute so to speak.

I think, at least I hope, people are finally starting to figure out on their own that, yes, holding people accountable for bad decisions is important, but FAR MORE IMPORTANT is having (and executing) a plan to fix what’s broken. That’s why Dems don’t have broader support for their Iraq policy. They lack a real plan.

Yes, Bush and Co. f’d NOLA disaster response and everybody knows it, but I’ll bet anyone who is still put out in NOLA would much rather their elected officials offer them an effectual recovery plan for those who have chosen to stay, than listen to yet more blathering about who f’d what up. I’d also bet these same folks would have some choice words for those pretending to give a shit about them for a few moments of political ‘Gocha’.

And yes, I think many folks are enjoying a better quality of life in their adopted cities whatever the citeria would be for that. Otherwise, there'd be chanting hoards roaming the streets of the Ninth Ward with pitch forks and torches demanding it be rebuild. I just don't see that as being the case, just Brad Pitt and Sean Penn whom I'm pretty sure won't be setting up homestead there. Feel free to point out my wrongness...

[Tom W.]

Wait a while there, fellas - I specifically said it's no good to throw the blame - it's too easy and too much to go around. I'm suggesting that the Dems use their platform to try and get something done...it's clearly a call for some push inside their own party.

[Slappy]

Horseshit. The problem is that there is not enough fingers pointing in the direction of the guilty. Throw the blame. Bucket loads of blame are needed here. I wish the "Take Personal Responsibility" Republican party would take personal responsibility.

I suggest in the next post we discuss how we shouldn't point fingers at the Republican Party for fucking up the planning of Iraq but concentrate on how to rebuild it. If only we unAmerican liberals supported the troops, the outcome might have been different. Also sarcasm.

Its about time in American politics somebody be held responsible for their actions. Feel free to point out my wrongness...

[Tony Alva]

Slappy,

So when does the guy waiting for aid to rebuild his place in NOLA finally get satisfaction? Oh yeah, when the blame finally gets sorted out. That'll surely make him happier than a frat boy at Mardi Gras.

Also sarcasm...

[Slappy]

Putting responsibility on those deserving it does not prevent that man's house from being built. And if you don't kick out the bums and/or start making people responsible for their actions/inactions that man's house is bound to be washed away again. And aside from the satisfaction of having his home rebuilt, he will get satisfaction knowing that the people responsible for his hotel stay in the Astrodome are dealt with properly. Yes, that will make him happier.

[Slappy]

Pray tell, when do we as a nation deal with this criminal neglect? When? Presidents have been held responsible for their actions before. Never with such a disastrous result and yet we are all supposed to pretend laying blame is detrimental to the rebuilding of N.O.

You lay blame on the yet to be formed wings of a caterpillar and talk of how many are better off now thanks to being neglected by their elected officials. And in the next breath you talk of rebuilding N.O. before laying blame. Somehow I find your concern for these unfortunate people and the rebuilding of their homes to be shallow at best.

And if you call me out for turning this into a political situation, you'd be damn right. These are politicians who purposely failed their employers and they should be dealt with politically and criminally. The winds themselves you can blame on the caterpillar, the inaction I blame of those who were hired to act. What is more political than that?

[Tony Alva]

I don't disagree with you at all re: accountability. I just don't think you're including the legacy of Democratic bums that have been the cancer of corruption from the Governor all the way through NO city gov't forever. But it seems that you would rather simply blame the Pres. exclusively. In order to REALLY fix the problems you'd have demand accountabilty from both sides of the isle which I don't hear you or Tom calling for. I can only conclude that you are not interested in actually solving problems in NO, but soley motivated to get so and so elected. That's hollow concern.

I think anybody who wants to stay should get any and all aid the Fed has offered, God bless them all. They'll need more than my good wishes though...

[Slappy]

I repeat myself: Not a state in the union is prepared or could handle such a disaster. Only the Federal government has such strength.

[Tony Alva]

Brother, let me tell you something that is a well understood hard fact down here south of the Mason-Dixon Line... there is not a single soul down here that doesn't understand that a large share of the initial breakdown in LA was due to the rampant and centuries old corruption/mismanagement at every level of state/local gov't in LA. It's been a part of doing business there forever. No state may have been prepared for something as grand in scale, but they could have been MUCH better off if not for this fact, especially with the sorry state of the levies and other infrastructure.

Believe what you want, but to deny this fact is putting your head in the sand. Take a T&C's course anywhere and you'll see what I'm sayin'. Try pulling a building permit in LA anywhere. Apply for a zoning exemption, or utility right of way. Nowhere is it so institutionalized. It’s as if it’s state sanctioned. It's as if LA is a sovereign nation or something. In my line of work I've had to do business with these city/state offices. I've experienced this first hand. Makes the Bronx corruption scandals of the late 70's/early 80's that our host covered look like stealing penny candy from a bodega.

Stop letting the bastards off the hook, they don't deserve it.

[Tom W.]

Tony, I do agree that only a massive Federal effort can truly rebuild New Orleans and that, frankly, only a Democrat has the chance to pull it off at this stage. Yes, NOLA politics is as notoriously corrupt as any city in the U.S. And no, corruption ain't a Dem or Repub disease. It's a political disease. But I'm not suggesting the big Democratic candidates merely concentrate on New Orleans to get elected - I'm suggesting they do it to set the table for a massive, Federal aid/mananagement/rebuilding program when one of them IS elected.

Slappy, the blame is there and will be a black mark in history. Yeah, Bush will go on oblivious, but his party won't. I'm just saying that "clueless Bush failed" doesn't rebuild anybody's hous - as true as it is.

[Fitz]

TW - Please define what you mean by “massive, Federal aid/management/rebuilding program”. Are you advocating that the Federal government take over the re-construction of New Orleans? I think you know as well as I do that there is no circumstance under which neither the City of New Orleans nor the State of Louisiana would cede control and management of such a project to the federal government. If anything, it’s the State of Louisiana which needs to step in if the city is failing to execute an appropriate rebuilding plan.

The proper role of the Federal government is to create the conditions for a successful rebuilding program including but not limited to a) implementing a region-wide flood control plan, a) repairing/upgrading major protective infrastructure, c) providing funding for city/state building plans and developing economic incentive programs (in conjunction with the city and state) to foster development programs in the area.

[Slappy]

The Federal government has been known to do what it pleases despite the wishes of the city/state. School systems and police forces have been taken away from incompetent local management.

[Tom W.]

Probably not full Federalization Tom, but gee, George Bush did promise that he would personally lead, and I quote: "one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen." Yeah right.

[Fitz]

TW,

As I suspected, despite your protestations to the contrary above (it's no good to throw the blame - it's too easy and too much to go around), for you, it really is about politics and not progress. You claim that you are only concerned about seeing a serious effort made at re-building New Orleans, but devolve right back into the blame game. And as usual, you failed to answer the question about what course of action the Feds should follow. It’s probably because you don’t have a clue what the Feds should or could do but, hey, it sounds like you really care if you say they should be doing more.

Okay. So if it’s really about getting something done, and it’s not about scoring cheap political points, why wait? Last time I checked, the Democrats controlled both the House and Senate. They can easily pass legislation to increase the re-building efforts and hold the President’s feet to the fire. That is something that can be done immediately. Why didn’t you propose that avenue of attack Instead you call for the rebuilding of New Orleans to be a central issue on the Democratic Presidential campaign trail.

If you want to take someone to task for not making it a central issue, criticize Pelosi and/or Reid as Democratic legislative leaders for not taking up thee cause. If you want to lump in Clinton, Obama, Biden, Kucinich and Dodd because, as Senators, they have failed to take the initiative, you would be on firmer ground. Instead, you criticize them and the other Presidential candidates for not making this a campaign issue. It’s obvious that you would rather see them scoring cheap political points about actions that they would take if they were sworn into the Presidency in January 2009 rather than advocating for immediate action from the current legislature in May 2007.

Of course, if you bother to answer me, I’m sure you’ll tell me I have you all wrong and you have only the purist intentions. If that’s the case, then please tell me what enabling actions you would like House and the Senate to take immediately in order to accelerate the reconstruction of New Orleans.

[Slappy]

Oh please Fitz. It was a political decision not to send proper help when the storm hit. If that area were white and voted Republican people would not be been living in such conditions. It already is political. You'd have to be a total ingrate to not wish god's speed in rebuilding these people's homes. But to pretend this isn't a political issue is foolish. It always was political. Anytime the government spends a buck, there is politics involved. To hell with any Democrat who thinks they should take the higher ground and not use this as a campaign point. The Republicans use far, far smaller issues to attack their enemies.

I wouldn't pretend to know what the best plan of action would be for the Feds. Somebody far smarter than myself knows how to rebuild lost cities but when American Idol asks for money for poor African kids in the same breath as American citizens, you know very little is being done at all.

You are right in the Dem Congress not stepping up to the plate. Unfortunately D.C. seems to be be completely engulfed in the other Bush debacle.

Kanye West made the single most damning and truthful statement on the issue. And the single most damning sentence spoken to have helped bury the Republican Party. "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

[Fitz]

Slap,

First, just about any issue is fair game in politics and campaigns – it is a brutal, ugly sport. Demagoguery is routinely and effectively by every successful politician to excite and motivate their base or targeted constituencies. So, if the Democratic candidates want to make New Orleans an issue, so be it.

I take TW to task only because he’s trying to disguise a call for demagoguery beneath a cloak of concern and caring. He was the one who took the Democratic Presidential candidates to task for not making New Orleans an issue. My point is that TW is criticizing the wrong Democrats. If he wants action, he should be trying to compel it from the people who hold the power today, not the ones that hope to hold power 21 months hence.

If we take TW at face value and accept that he really cares about the rebuilding of New Orleans and doesn’t think this should be played merely for politic advantage, then he has chosen the wrong group to agitate for action. Perhaps he would care to comment and clarify since none of us is (nor wants to be) inside his mind.

BTW – I think you stumbled onto the reason why there is no Democratic Congressional action on the re-building of New Orleans - the Iraq war debate. From a political strategy point of view, it doesn’t help the Congressional Democrats to take action on NOLA. If they put forth another rebuilding bill, it would, in all likelihood, be signed by Bush with great fanfare. Tactically, from a pure political perspective, it doesn’t serve the Democrats interest to do anything that might burnish Bush’s image, even in a small way. The weaker the Democrats can make Bush look (not that he doesn’t do a smashingly good job all by himself), the more political leverage shifts in their favor.

[Phoenx]

Through the entire debate no one actually questions the wisdom of even attempting to rebuild a city that is below sea level. Everyone needs to read John McPhee's book, "The Control of Nature". The real lesson of New Orleans is to get prepared for an even bigger disaster awaiting all of South Louisana when the New River control structure 300 miles North of NO ultimately fails. The Corps of Engineers ultimately will never be able to build the levees high enough to prevent an even bigger catastrophe than Katrina.

[Slappy]

Florida gets slammed by hurricanes, the midwest has tornadoes, California is due to fall into the Pacific any day now. South Dakota property values are undervalued.

[PooleBowman]

Mr. Watson,
With all due respect, the US cannot leave Iraq.
The American people feel that God gave them the
world's resources. The most important resource
is oil. Therefore, the US must control the oil
reserves of the Middle East and Central Asia,
especially the Caspian Sea. Mr. Bush did not invade
and occupy Iraq to best Poppy. Per Kevin Phillips'
"American Dynasty", the Bush family has had the
task of securing Caspian Sea oil reserves since
1918. George W. Bush is continuing the family
mission. His number one goal before he became
president was to invade and occupy Iraq.
Secretary Rice is a respected expert on Central
Asia and speaks fluent Russian. Mr. Chaney is
exceptionally knowledgeable, experienced, and
respected, in the construction and management
of oil industry infrastructure.
Currently, the US has direct control of 216
billion barrels of Iraqi oil, the US maintains
indirect control of Saudi Arabian oil, the US
indirectly controls Iranian oil by a massive
show of force, and the US has four permanent
bases in Iraq to stop China and Russia from
acquiring Caspian Sea oil. Yesterday, Russia
announced a deal for Turkmenistan natural gas,
which indicates that they are staying away from
the Caspian Sea oil of Azerbaijan. A large
pipeline was recently completed to deliver
that oil to the Mediterranean Sea. On a smaller
scale the US is replacing all humvees in Iraq
with 1,800 new vehicles at one million per unit.
Thirty thousand additional troops are going to
Iraq. The US must protect the Caspian Sea oil
to safeguard and justify the new oil pipeline.
To maintain the economic prosperity that the
American people regard as God's gift to them, the
US cannot leave Iraq. More likely, Iraq will
be divided into three states and the US will
stay in its embassy and on its bases. That Mr.
Bush is headed toward that goal is indicated by
the talks with Syria and Iran, and the recent
announcement that the Sunnis will control 100
billion barrels of oil.
At this point, Mr. Bush and his successors
can only better manage the occupation
to minimize the killing and destruction.
Remember Mr. Powell's "Pottery Barn" rule. The
US does not have the option of leaving Iraq
unless it no longer wants to be the world's
sole superpower. Oil is power.

[Slappy]

"Secretary Rice... speaks fluent Russian..."

Reagan wouldn't stand for a commie in the White House.