What (Mr.) Clinton Brought to New Orleans
I've finally located a complete enough report on what Hillary Clinton's designated surrogate, the former president, said in his sole pre-primary New Orleans appearance on Friday to offer a thought or two about it.
First, he appeared at Dillard, a historically black college which was severely damaged by flooding from one of the many breached levees.
Yet, according to the Times-Picayune's report, his recitation of his wife's policy prescriptions for the area were limited to (a) organizing a catastrophic insurance market and (b) financial incentives to spur reconstruction. In other words, he focused entirely on issues of recovery. What was missing? Exactly what's been missing from Sens. Edwards' and Obama's statements about New Orleans, an understanding of why the disaster occurred, and a pledge to take the necessary steps to prevent a repetition -- i.e., mandating a truly independent peer review and oversight for the Army Corps of Engineers, and full funding for a program of barrier island and coastal wetland restoration.
Second, the remarkable disparity between the Obama and Clinton crowds is attributed in the article to a disparity in the warning time people had before the appearances occurred. That seems to speak to a disparity in campaign organization.
Previously: What Obama Brought to New Orleans
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Harry, I love you man, but have you not heard Barack's stump? I can think of at least 3 occasions where he mentioned building new levees that can withstand the "100 year storm". So, sorry um, you are wrong. By the way, at least he actually campaigned ithere. Hillary blew the place off.
HARRY RESPONDS: You missed the point. Building new levees to withstand a 100-year storm is current law. But without independent peer review of the Corps' work, the people who designed and built the levees wrong the last time are doing the job again.
100-year flood protection is simply insufficient. That level of protection seems to translate to approximately Category 3 conditions.
Dams built all across this country are designed at a 10,000-year standard. It seems like I read a report in the last 2 years and 6 months that described Holland as using a 100,000-year design standard.
From what I read about meteorology (which is admittedly superficial), I understand that Category 5 is pretty much the maximum strength that a hurricane can achieve. At that level, internal forces cause the storm to collapse - to rip itself apart, so to speak. It may restrengthen after a time, if the conditions are favorable, but it will top out at Cat 5.
Within the next 100 years, a Category 5 hurricane will almost certainly pass close enough to New Orleans to overwhelm the proposed Category 3 protection. Category 5 protection seems to be the only appropriate design standard.
HARRY RESPONDS: AFAIK, Netherlands uses a 1-in-10,000-year standard.
My apologies, I misrecollected the dam standard by a factor of 100. Major dams in the United States - a levee protecting a million human lives, $billions of property value and incalculable historic and cultural assets must certainly be considered "major" - are built to a 1,000,000-
I will humbly defer to Harry's AFAIK for Holland's design standard of 1-in-10,000 years.
Perhaps it is just me... but Harry, New Orleans had a problem with levees back in 1993 and on through 2001, when BILL CLINTON was president. New Orleans and Louisiana knew what the status was of the wetlands and marshlands and the coastline back in 1993 and on through 2001, back when BILL CLINTON was President, right?
It seems to me... and believe me I'm just as mad about the state of New Orleans and friends and extended family who have been affected by the flood waters and hurricanes
I find it odd that you "hear what you want" from Bill Clinton, who is not in office, and merely stumping for his wife (who won't do anything for you anyway) but you didn't "hear" it from Obama or Edwards or anyone else.
The problem I think is in what you "what to hear" and not what was said by the candidates.
Louisiana and New Orleans need to look outside of the Corps of Engineers to build a long-term, massive storm or flood solution.
Louisiana is an oil-producing state. Trade oil for development of your flood control system. You have something we need, and if helping build a flood wall is the price we pay, we'll help you.
Signed,
the other 49 states.
PS: throw us some beads...
Do not sign for me or anyone else. Louisiana does not own their oil, do they? The are not their own country. I know, why not build decent levees there instead of a 700 mile wall to keep people out of the country? Putz
Harry, I understand what your getting at,but;
In a hurricane 5 condition, New Orleans will flood again. It's a flood plain for krist sake.
The corp. can build the levee's and pump stations to withstand up to a hurricane 4. Knowing whats been said about global warming, theres a fat chance that insurance companies will sell flood insurance in Orleans. No politician or shill (bill) will publically admit they cant be all things to all people.
HARRY RESPONDS: No private company sells flood insurance. It's sold by an arrangement set up by the federal government. And the most heavily flood-insured area in the country, pre-K, was....New Orleans.
Harry is right about New Orleans having the highest percentage of people with flood insurance in the country - who aren't even required to have it.
And btw, Washington DC is on a flood plain.
Harry: I stand corrected, mostly. Do you mean that the American taxpayer underwrites the flood insurance for New Orleans? Geez, I wonder why private insurers wont.
Harry, can you give me the telephone number for the US Govt. insurance company? I'm thinking about building a house on the San Andreas fault line....
HARRY RESPONDS: Flood insurance has been federalized across the country, not just in NO.
The post should read:
"What Bill Clinton , a paid spokesperson, brought to Louisiana - He told yo what you wanted to hear"
Bill Clinton is a no longer a POLITICIAN but a paid spokesperson. He does not have to make good on promises he makes during tailor made rallies. If anything, Bill Clinton, at this stage of his life is the ultimate "empty suit".
Now, I ask you, put Bill Clinton the President, in this same exact situation. Would he be pleasing to hear? Chances are to you yes, but his promises never reach fruition? bad compromises, placating and smoke and mirrors politics blaming everyone else for his failures, characterized much of Bill Clinton's administration
But this would be ok, with some wings in the Democratic party, because they like sharp phony never gonna pass Congress specific public policy speeches , and the politics of finger pointing - always somebody else's fault. So , i'm sure Bill Clinton wins with you either way, but those of us up here in the cheap seats, have a better view of the big picture.
above - correction
The post should read:
"What Bill Clinton , a paid spokesperson, brought to Louisiana - He told YOU what you wanted to hear"
If not pointed out below, allow me to be the first:
As opposed to Obama and Edwards, President Clinton (emphasis on the big P), was in a position to direct the USACE, an element of the Executive Branch.
Some of the failings of the USACE, or failures of leadership as applies to the USACE, were on his watch.
As Judge Stanwood Duval laments, this failure was 50 years in the making. So yes, I guess a small percentage of the failings were "on his watch."
So what you are saying Harry is that none of the candidates have addressed the levee situation in New Orleans. That is a problem for both candidates.
I listened to Obama's speech and as an outsider I thought he addressed the levee situation. In reality, Congress and the next administration have to do more than talk of rebuilding the region, they have to take action to prevent the same devastation from occurring. Coastal restoration is key.
Restore the wetland, the lungs of the Earth.
I wish we would see more of this from the Clintons and less of Karl Rove look-alikes.
Every time I feel like people have stopped paying attention to New Orleans the recovery I find your latest musings. I felt like Edwards understood the hardships we are going through but you are correct that he never really pinpointed why the floods occurred.
Heres something you should look into: I tried to vote today in the primary (I was on the roll) but was denied since I hadn't previously declared myself a member of a political party. I have voted in primaries in other sates and the method used was you simply declared once you arrived to vote. What if I declared democrat with the intent to vote for Edwards but after his leaving the race decided to switch to McCain? Out of luck is the answer.
I don't know if it can be labeled as voter disenfranchisement but it certainly goes against the idea of free elections.
Keep up the good work Harry.
http://gum
So, I'm curious. Given that none of the candidates appears to meet with your approval, what now?
Do we sit on our hands and not support anyone?
Do we march on Washington?
Seriously, sir.
Just askin'.
HARRY RESPONDS: What, you're waitin' for my signal? Do what you think is right. Me, I'm beating the drum for New Orleans. You, you could contact the candidate of your choice and see if he/she responds substantively.
HARRY RESPONDS: "What, you're waitin' for my signal?"
No, not exactly. I am waiting, perhaps even *hoping* in this putative "season of hope", for some serious, forward looking, discussion in this forum of how to make our candidates more responsive.
"You, you could contact the candidate of your choice and see if he/she responds substantiv
You mean other than with a hand out for a donation?
Why don't *you* contact the candidates? You're more likely to be able to have a substantive, on the record, conversation with Senator Obama, Senator Clinton, or Senator McCain than I am, simply by dint of your relative fame.
Oh, but that would violate the "Satirist's Code" we discussed a few months ago.
Okay, take off the "Le Show Chapeau" and put on the old reporter's fedora (you know, the one with the "PRESS" card stuck in the hat band left over from the "Newsweek" days. . . I'm sure you've kept it in a box somewhere).
Ask some hard questions. Write a piece. You're the one with the ready access to a national forum.
Harry,I think your efforts are misguided.
You can reform the Corps all you want,but without reform in Congress and in the state of Louisiana,you're getting nothing accomplished.
There is no, I repeat, no statutory basis for Corps oversight by the state and locals. There has never been and there still isn't now.
The US Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of New Orleans' flood protection. Period. To blame the locals is absurd.
Thank you Harry Shearer for continuing to beat the drum for ACE review and oversight.
Let's hope whomever the candidate is s/he will hear our demands for investigation and reform. Of course they won't hear us if we aren't speaking..
The Army Corps of Engineers has less and less to do with the Army, so why the hell do we still call it that?
Excellent diagnosis.
Since pointing out how New Orleans is important to the nation hasn't seemed to work, and mere mention of its plight and possible solutions seem to be barely mentioned in campaign speeches and mostly buried on websites, more and more, I wonder how the nation would get along without some of those good things provided by New Orleans.
Can a city go on strike?
HARRY NOTES: The much-reviled ex-Gov. Blanco proposed not approving the next round of oil drilling off the state's shores, but relented when Congress gave the state a (paltry) share of offshore oil royalties.
"I do believe that reform of the Army Corps of Engineers is necessary," Obama said. "I'd like to see corps guidelines updated to include modern practices, objective science and a more appropriate cost-benefit analysis. More transparency is also needed in the corps' project review process. Finally, the agency ... should be held to the same mitigation standards required of private entities."
This was the only Quote I found so far about reforming the Corps from Obama. But it was a few years ago.
Where's Hillary? She's the one running for president, not Bill.
To all you folks and especially you HARRY: Harry, you said what was missing was his statement and concern on what was the CAUSE, why it occurred. Which you mentioned had to do with the design and construction of the levees. Harry, come on, you are not that naive. You had seemed like a very intelligent and very nice guy. Oh well, I guess I'll have to be blunt in telling you why.
The answer: Harry, of course he's not going to tell anybody why it happened. Because he had 8 years to do something about it ---and did nothing. He sure doesn't want to remind everybody of that. Am I being clear?
HARRY RESPONDS: And Bush has had seven, and his dad had four, and Reagan had....thi
Stemboat ....who was writing the spending bill's for most of Clinton's 8 years.
The cause may have been in inherent corruption of Louisiana politics. Since the Kingfish's days, graft and skimming have been endemic in La. Maybe Hillary could've come out against Jefferson and his icebox full of cash or his misuse of Federal resources in his recovery of said ill-gotten gains.
Harry: Read the article again. 40 years ago (LBJ) the levees were considered sub-standard for even a category 1-2 storm. Hence, the reason private insurance companies wouldnt sell flood insurance.
I wonder how much profit the federal govt made in their quest to uderwrite/sell insurance to NO in the ensuing time?
HARRY RESPONDS: I don't know what article you're referring to, but the current levee-floodwall program was only mandated by Congress after Hurricane Betsy, which was near the end of the Johnson Administration. So, in all probability, knowing the pace at which the Corps works, construction hadn't even started before LBJ left office.
Shortly after Katrina destroyed the region, the post mortem had already begun. Senate committees will hold investigations into what happened and there's that call from Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary Clinton for this wider public inquiry - like the one held for the 11 September attacks.
From her website...
"There are still clear gaps and deficiencies in the city’s hurricane defenses. Senator Clinton would immediately order an independent, stem-to-stern review of the Army Corps of Engineers’ plans and progress thus far. She would fully fund and expedite construction to ensure the city has reliable defenses this hurricane season, and would order the Corps to achieve Category 5 protection over time. And, because every 2 to 4 miles of wetlands reduces storm surges by a foot, she would require the Army Corps and other federal agencies to integrate a wetlands restoration plan as a vital component of hurricane protection efforts."
This seems to address the concern regarding a solution that will protect the region in the future...I
Yeah, Obama addresses that too.
Good.
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