Back in September of 2005, I wondered if Katrina would become an campaign issue in 2008. Now pollster John Zogby says it just might:
73 percent say the U.S is in a serious crisis, according to our recent polling.
This suggests a need to redefine the very nature and structure of U.S. federalism. In our post-Katrina polling, we found a hunger nationwide for a new model for the federal government. In many ways, I believe Katrina, over the long haul, will prove to be more of a defining moment in American history than the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Update: Leigh Graham has some additional analysis.
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It came be sound bite-sized as: do you feel more secure than you did eight years ago? Secure in your job? In health care? From terrorists or natural disaster? Do you?
I would take a stonger tack but I”$ not running for national office: Katrina exposed what the core of the GOP agenda-breaking the social contract thaty won WW2 and produced a half century of security and prosperty has truly cost.
Yep, we here in NOLA are the 21st century version of the Bronx in terms of a hot-button campaign issue – though nobody across this country knows it yet…
Katrina was one of things that destroyed the Repubs reputation as good managers. I always thought that was overrated BUT it was the perception. They’re viewed as fuck ups now.
Goodbye America! Goodbye America! ALERT! Goodbye America!
The poets and artists are at the vanguard of what’s going on; and, sadly the federal government is always lagging behind!
I don’t think so. Just think, Our TV news outlets [Fox Noise, See-NBC?, C No News, etc…], Newspaper & Radio outlets [mostly ALL owned by the same four-five companies] and the talking heads that breed like alien spawn all around them, have literaly limited genuine debate to to a half-hour late night program on comedy central! When I see more about Paris Hilton’s jail woes & less about the two Wars our country is currently fighting I don’t have faith that Katrina-news will make that big of a difference in the upcoming Elections. And as for incoming Dems, all the major players make lip service to this area, but care more about the “heartland” then us. Hell, Katrina issuses didn’t really make any difference HERE. I mean Jefferson let people in this city DIE so the national Gaurd could rescue computers and records from his home and Ray Nagin spends more time outside of this city than in it [and there is serious talk of his making a run for either Jefferson’s seat or Governor Me’Maw’s] and they both won their jobs back. No, I don’t think it will make a difference in the long run.
I think that it will prove to be a defining moment in history, but not from the standpoint of the mismanagement of the storm and its immediate after-effects. I think that the city’s decline into a combination of a war zone and a wasteland will ultimately have a profound effect on the nation. With the current administration (specifically, Nagin, Jordan, and Riley), there is little hope for a well-organized and nationally supported rebuilding and little hope that crime can be controlled. That administration is essentially unremoveable (following the death of SB 22) for another three years. In three years, those of us who can leave, will have done so. Those who cannot will live behind barricades.
I really believe that without dramatic change at the highest levels, this city does not have a chance. Without such change, the hoped for (relied upon) aid is not going to come. All of the areas that are still flood damaged will continue to be there as crumbling, burned out wastelands. Rebuilding in those areas will stop entirely as whatever was there never gains momentum. The criminals will become even more brazen than they have been (really, how much more brazen can you be than shooting someone in the early afternoon on a main thoroughfare). One by one, the businesses will leave or fold (like in the eighties).
Maybe it’s just me, but if you read the local blogs in the past two weeks, they have all taken on a decidedly pessimistic, even apocolyptic, tone. I really believe that we need to find a way out of this impasse. Sadly, I don’t know what that would be, but I think it would need to happen soon.
Maybe the best thing would be for RayRay to head to Washington to take Jefferson’s seat [he couldn’t be any more dirty than Dollar Bill]. Riley wouldn’t stay much longer once he left [there would be no one around to wind his keys] and Jordon would probably either work tighter/better with a replacment or find himself out of a job in three years [I think he is too busy looking for a way to blame the recent crime spike on Fast Eddie myself]. Now if we could just get Gov. Mee’Maw on the way back to mud-bug traps in the Swamplands a lttle sooner…of course there is nothing that says the northern half of this state would have to want to help us anymore than they do NOW [I think eveyone north of Lafeyette would have been happy if the southern portion of the state had simply fallen into the Gulf with the retreating storm surge…but that may be just me] or that Jin-dull would be anymore likely to help here without a spiritual directive from the GOD and/or the RNC [whichever he prays loudest to these days].
If by “defining moment” the author means the beginning of the end of Bush Jr.’s presidency, I’d have to agree.
Thanks for the link to my post at Foresight. I have a link to your blog on my personal blog, The Redstar Perspective. I write about New Orleans frequently, though as a post-Katrina disaster recovery outsider. I’ve tried to link to local NOLA blogs there, but am continually discovering new ones. Thanks for more insight here.