Obama to New Orleans: Drop Dead?

CLEVELAND -- Regular readers know I've been critical of the Obama administration for its do-nothing approach to redeeming the president's promise to redeem the promises Bush made in Jackson Square two weeks after the city was flooded by the failure of the federal levees. Now, it's not just me and my little opinion.

Politifact, run by the St. Petersburg Times (a reputable and non-profit newspaper), has made a handy checklist of the president's statements on the city's needs and his promises to help meet those needs, measured against what he's actually proposed and/or done. It's not surprising, at least to me, that the scoreboard contains almost all goose-eggs. Yes, we all know he's got a lot on his plate, yet he managed to find time to sign an executive order last week reorganizing the cleanup of Chesapeake Bay, so not all local needs are going unmet. And the Washington Post reports the stimulus bill, while containing nothing for New Orleans, did make a nice stash available for the contractors who've been taking their time, and making some mistakes, trying to clean up our nuclear weapons sites.

The farther we get into this administration, the clearer it becomes that New Orleans is now enjoying its second consecutive federal administration which, far from offering to fix what it broke, far from offering a hand of support, is merely offering one finger. (Hat tip: LSD)

Comments

[NRR]

As a Texan I'm sick of only hearing about NO and Katrina. The Texas Gulf Coast has been hit twice by hurricanes. Remember Rita and Ike. Several coastal communities were wiped out by Ike. We are still waiting from relief from Rita when Ike hit. Texans have had to suffer because of the debaucle that was the Katrina government relief. Remember those "debit" cards? That worked well. There are still Katrina evacuees living in Houston that are still having their housing paid for but people that were displaced because of Ike are pretty much on their own. We are being jerked around by federal aid and relief from our insurance carriers. Of course there was no celebrity sympathy for us. Sean Penn didn't come down to Texas for his photo opportunity. Texas isn't the only place that has suffered natural diasaters since Katrina (flooding, fires, tornadoes) but apparently none of these diasters are worthy of anyones attention except Katrina.

[doctorj2u]

Maybe you need to "whine" (speak out) more. Best of luck! This country will ignore you given half a chance. Don't let them forget.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

Precisely because Katrina was not a natural disaster, but a failure of federal protection structures.

[Tyler-Durden]

summary: I WANT, I WANT. NOW, NOW. ME, ME.

i'm sorry your cries are now blending in with EVERYONE ELSE'S. Yeah, it sucks that Bushie didn't help out when your sh*t hit the fan, but now that the whole country is hurting, you're just another struggling city. At least you have a tourism industry to bring some money back.

p.s. if you don't like floods, don't live UNDER SEA LEVEL.

[steamboat]

Actually if what I read is true, more then half of NOLA is above sea-level.

Harry, could you let us know if this is true or not?

[doctorj2u]

It is true. It was a Tulane-UNO study done after Katrina.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

At or above, yes.

[Tyler-Durden]

read this:

http://geology.com/articles/rebuilding-new-orleans.shtml

basically it's as smart to live there as it is to live on the side of a volcano.

[Freesia2]

While I can appreciate your frustration, outrage...­pick an adjective. I don't want to denegrate your feelings or your message by choosing the wrong one.

But Harry? He's been in office for 4 months. And pretty much anyone who has a cause that is important to them takes this same tone. Here it's he's "giving New Orleans the finger". It undermines what you're saying.

And yes I know New Orleans has been waiting for resolution for too long. And reading recent reports of the stupidy of Rumsfeld's actions re Katrina, the anger is real. I have no doubt.

But if you wrote this same thing a year from now, with that finger analogy, it might play. For right now? This early? It undermines your message.

And yet I applaud you. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. You're doing wthat an American is supposed to do. Make themselves known to their government. So keep telling them Harry. But don't be so quick to jump to such a dramatic conclusion such as he's basically tell NO to go #*@# themselves. I don't believe that's true. I believe you write him off too easily.

[PiscesPrincess]

Get Over It. How many days has he been in office? and Yes, He Does have a great deal on his plate. So. ??
He will get to your precious project. All in good time. sheesh.

[Blakkwolfe]

Fixing New Orlreans, in my opinion, could be a powerful visual representation of the change that every American could expect. Let's hope that Obama will kick up a notch in the next hundred days.

[Mort]

Harry, I said earlier in this thread what a fan I am. I respect you for working tirelessly to inform and call for change in NO.

You spend a lot of energy blaming the feds and none on calling for responsibility of local leaders. Yes, the fed has major culpability. However, it was local and state leaders who dropped the ball on their own people and emergency plans. They continued their usual tricks of taking care of buddies, throwing blame and turning their backs on the citizens. Money which should go to helping the needy has, for generations, lined wallets and funded pet projects. Ray is a follower of those traditions.

I think your outrage at the feds would hold more weight if it were accompanied by the same level of expression toward local leaders. Why not open the door to frank discussion about Mayor Ray? Call for him to do his job and serve the people instead of all the preening, posturing and back room dealing? Why not put Gov Bobby on the spot? Instead of playing party games to look good for future election he should be fighting to take better care of his stewardship.

Other states, cities and neighborhoods roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty and get the job done. But all we usually hear from NO is that things are still awful because the fed hasn't done enough. There's plenty of blame to go around, Harry. Let's aim some of it where it belongs.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

Again, New Orleanians have thrown dollar Bill Jefferson out of office, reformed the levee board system, reformed the tax assessment system, removed an incompetent DA, and installed an independent Inspector General overseeing city government. I daresay no city, North or South, has done as much to clean up and rationalize its governance in so short a time. Ray Nagin is a lost cause, and everyone in New Orleans knows it. But neither C. Ray nor Bobby Jindal has any jurisdiction over the hurricane protection system, run by the feds, whose failure caused the disaster in 2005.

[Mort]

Good points, and good progress. But again, jurisdiction over the protection system is far different from local responsibility for the public. Part of the cleanup should include running 'ol Ray out on a rail, after he's forced to publicly apologize and pay back the loot. First priority of any local leader should be the health and welfare of the citizens. Someone with so little regard for all the "little people" doesn't deserve to be left in office to do more damage.

Then get someone in place who's up to the task of taking whatever resources they can find, beit federal, state and local, the spirit of the people, and focus on rebuilding strictly with the needs of the people in mind, and in partnership with them. This 'suffering years later' stuff may never have happened if not for elected officials. Get the right person in place with the whole city behind them and I bet you'll see miracles happen!

[mergina]

Yep. Yet another broken Obama promise, another back turned on New Orleans.

[PiscesPrincess]

Oh, Good Grief

[doctorj2u]

It is the truth. I know you would like us to give up and go away, but we will NEVER do that. Our home is precious to us. Too bad America does not agree.

[GordonA]

The lesson that I take from this is that it is foolish to rely on politicians for ones safety and well being. If it is likely that a deadly flood is coming or that a city is falling apart, move. If you stay and are able to move, you are complicit in your own demise.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

And, to the vast majority of people who died in the flooding of New Orleans, who were elderly and/or infirm, your advice is what?

[doctorj2u]

I guess they were not "self relient" enough.

[GordonA]

Most of them weren't likely elderly and infirm for the the last 30 years or so, no?
For those that were, my advice if for those of us who do care, including myself, to help them ourselves rather than simply voting to get others into help them.

[GordonA]

Also, my intent was not to criticize your post. I recognize that you are pitching in yourself and that you have the guts and consideration to wade into the replies to your posts.

[PiscesPrincess]

what kind of a dumb remark is this? These people either could not afford to move, were too infirm to move and simply did Not Want to Move. and deadly floods can occur in many places. are we all supposed to move just because of the possibility? I think not.

[sprkl12000]

The advice would be for the LOCAL governments to step up and MOVE its citizens out of harms way...they had PLENTY of advance notice that Katrina was heading their way but Nagin and Blanco sat on their hands until the last minute...h­old your LOCAL OFFICIALS accountable for all the red tape, policies, procedures, lack of communication, etc. that ensued..

[GordonA]

A deadly flood was known to be very likely in New Orleans though. I live in MN and I was very aware of NO's precarious position. I am not saying that we (esp. I) shouldn't help people in such a situation, but rather that we should hold people accountable for not helping themselves. The victims that were infirm and stuck for the several decades that this was looming up, are a special case.

[Spiderxx1]

One more impatient critic. "Obama is not doing what I want when I want it".

I know for a fact, from people close to the president that cannot reveal their identity, that the president has plan on the table to address New Orleans problems. Until then Harry you and the other critics continue to do your volunteer work and send money to the Red Cross, because I know you are doing more than just criticizing.

[EdWhite1]

When is New Orleans going to stand up and help itself rather than waiting impotently for the governmetn to do it for them? I know several people who live there, they didnt wait for some magical bullet from the Feds to fix their lives, they knuckled down and rebuilt their lives as well as their homes.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

When they start rebuilding their own levees and their own coastal wetlands, please let us all know. That would be news.

[GH]

Coastal wetlands. This also brings to mind why areas like the lower 9th ward keeps settling so dramatically - think I hear around a 1/2 inch per year or so?

Prior to the Mississippi river being channeled (the levees) to keep the seasonal natural flooding (over it's banks) would leave in it's wake several inches of rich sediments deposited on the flood plain (includes the wetlands). I would imagine that in some years, easily 3-6 inches of new earth would be left behind. A natural balance would exist. Over time the elevation of the areas might rise or fall depending on long term trends.

By barracading off the river, the natural process was stopped. Areas like the lower ninth ward have continued to settle over the decades. Unfortunately, as the area settles, the levee tops settle with the entire area. Add two feet to the top of the levees now -- and 40 years from now, they will be 2-4 feet further below sea level. Of course, if (when) sea level begins to rise again (been falling for a few years) it will just be that much worse. Looking at the NOAA sea level data at Grand Isle.. http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=8761724 , looks a bit forboding. Of course most of the relative rise here is actually because of the ground settling - not the ocean's rising.

[kassandrasduplex]

Is anyone surpirsed by this? Obama is a shill.

[PiscesPrincess]

You, kassandra, need a lesson in mouth closed. trap shut. and when was the last time YOU actually listened to him? I thought not.

[TheHandyman]

It's obvious you haven't either listened or you have some sort of intellectual disconnect that doesn't allow you to reconcile the talk with the walk!

[Monica]

First of all its Cassandra, not kassandra. Second, Cassandra is the archetype of being prophetic but not being listened to until its too late, so I guess you are giving Harry a compliemnt. Thanks!

Oh BTW, when is 'enough' time for Obama to do what he says he will do? I want to know so we can all continue this conversation without that lame excuse (at which time I'm sure not much will have changed?)

Hey I wonder what Greek God you will make me? Can I suggest Hera?

[rextrek]

didn't Haley Barber STEAL LOTS of the RELIEF money for the BIG Corporations to rebuild in the gulf states?

[redisright]

When is the madness going to end. NO and louisiana need to take care of themselves now. Enough with this nanny state crap. If you live where fires start, hurricanes come, tornado's strike, lava flows. expect to have things get f*cked up every once in a while. And make sure your local and state gov't know what the hell they are doing, oh, and the netherlands doesn't have hurricanes.

[Harry Shearer - Huffpost Blogger]

No, there are no strong winds coming off the north sea, whipping up storm surge in the Netherlands. They must have spent all that time and money and engineering expertise to protect themselves against nothing. And, according to Berkeley's ILIT report, had the federal levees not failed, the worst impact Katrina would have had on New Orleans would have been "wet ankles". Drop the nanny state crap; this is simply a matter of the feds broke it, the feds need to fix it.

[sprkl12000]

And the FEDS will fix it but not when YOU WANT THEM TO APPARENTLY­...almost 5 years after Katrina and you are still waiting...­seriously, does Obama need to drive the tow truck to town for you too?

What have you all done to make Jindal/Nagin accountable?

[TheHandyman]

Just what planet do you live on? A lot of the things you described sometimes just pop up out of nowhere. Can't even begin to imagine what you would say if an asteroid hit!

[ckfan]

Take a number, Harry. Obama has become president at one of the worst times in our country's history and every group is upset because in less than 6 months in office he hasn't addressed every issue and fixed every problem.

He's a politician, not a Saint. I believe he will get to most issues in due time; however, as always, the Dems continue to lack patience and eat their own.

[nolabear]

Harry et al., Many thanks for keeping the horror of New Orleans in front of the public eye. I'm a Gulf Coast/New Orleans native who now lives far away, and a poet who has made Katrina a part of my body of work, in an effort not only to survive the pain myself, but to keep people from forgetting. Its so easy when you don't see it firsthand to minimize the devastation and the need for immediate work, not on the city but on the restructuring of the wetlands--a major contributing factor created by industry and addressable by concrete means. I wish more of the arts community would keep New Orleans and Biloxi and Pascagoula and all the devastated areas in front of the eyes that are all too easily closed as we all fight for economic survival. Write plays, write songs, take photos, blog, paint, perform, speak this awful truth to power! Thanks for all you're doing.