The Rude Pundit explains why.
Of course, electing a new mayor of New Orleans at this point is pretty much the same as forming a unity government in Iraq: it’s nice to see the processes going on, but, really, and, c’mon, what’s the difference? Baghdad’s gonna go up in flames, New Orleans is destined for the drink. It’s not blind, nihilistic pessimism to say so.
And that’s because New Orleans is fucked, yes, it’s true, and there must come a time when we accept exactly how fucked it is so that we can figure out what the hell to do with the people there and scattered to the winds.
. . .It’s awfully nice that Ray Nagin wants to have unity in the city, something that’s a hell of a lot easier to do with half as many people in New Orleans as last year at this time. But New Orleans is fucked, between bearing the damage of long-term neglect (isn’t it time someone realized that doing anything on the cheap, whether it’s wars of choice or levees of life support, is just gonna end up fucking over the very people it’s supposed to help?) and bearing up for another hurricane season, with a prediction for this year that’s pretty much the exact same as last year. New Orleans, that sinful town, now bears the weight of the sins of national incompetence on environmental and urban policies, corporate cronyism, budget cuts and tax cuts, and more. It is a weight that will collapse the Crescent City without the will to put more than a cotton ball on an arterial wound.
Read the rest.
I watched the Mayor’s victory speech. It was just nauseating to see him kiss Bush’s ass. FEMA was a horrid failure. There are still trailers sitting undelivered. There is still bureaucratic paralysis. I wonder, Mayor Nagin, do you have a plan this time? You sure as hell didn’t last time.