Calling out the Dems on New Orleans

The Democrats have been dining out on the Bush Administration's slow-walking response to the disaster in New Orleans for more than a year. Now, some would say finally, a Democrat from this area asks, in effect, where's the beef (in honor of the season, the question should be, where's the beuf gras?) Rep. Charles Melancon, a conservative Democrat, complains that the leadership's approach to the slew of problems faced by New Orleans and vicinity has been to "throw...a bone".

And, a more media-oriented note: the most uncovered story in New Orleans right now, aside from the insurance problems (about which more in a diary entry), is Ed Blakeley. He's the man the frequently absent mayor appointed as his recovery czar, with an impressive record of shepherding other cities in their post-disaster phases. People at dinner parties I've been going to can't stop exchanging notes and opinions on the guy, yet the man who's in charge of leading New Orleans into something resembling a real recovery is an unknown to the national media, and its audience.