Can John McCain Save New Orleans?

So John McCain has gone to New Orleans and, encouragingly, said all, or most of, the right things. Credit where credit is due. McCain gains little political advantage from visiting New Orleans or talking about it at all - other than, possibly, ameliorating a stain on the Bush administration that has also attached itself to the Republican Party. But that's exactly what he ought to be doing. Any time a potential president lays down some benchmarks for the city's future it's a good thing

But does McCain really understand the city's predicament? That is, if he's elected will we get more than just some good rhetoric? Words can't hold back the sea.

Alas, McCain's domestic policy is a threadbare work-in-progress. There are no New Orleans-specific policies or plans on his website. The city's reconstruction and long-term safety require a serious, sustained federal commitment - that is, government has to actually start working well, and spend lots of money wisely. But McCain is arguing for an unsustainable course of continued, costly occupation in Iraq, additional tax cuts, and large spending cuts (a contradiction some of his N.O. questioners pointed out, to no avail.)

Doubtless, doing the right thing in New Orleans appeals to McCain's sense of American honor and greatness. And his hostility to earmarks and pet projects is also promising. More than anything, the porkification of U.S. spending has doomed New Orleans by transforming the levee system - a vital piece of public infrastructure upon which lives and the local economy depend - into just another local pork project. But these are attitudes - not plans.

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Comments

[doctorj2u]

Words and deeds. McCain said all the right words but all his past deeds show abandonment of the Gulf South. By the way, I love how some of these posters make the failure of FEMA and federal levees the fault of state and local government. Thanks for the laugh guys.

[LizM]

Just curious...­did the words 'coastal restoration' pass his lips, by any chance?

[rwe]

Ngin and Landrieu haven't done squat before and after,,, hell La elected a REPUBLICAN governor

[DallasMike]

The only problem with McCain's visit to NO is he didn't place blame on the local Gov't for what happened. 30 plus years of Liberal policies did not prepare Mayor Nagin or the Governor for what happened.
Why did'nt Nagin use the school busses to evacuate the people?
And who is in charge of see that the monies for the levies is spent on the levies?
It was'nt just Washington that droped the ball there is plenty of blame to go around.
And from the sounds of this artical the people of NO are still waiting for Uncle Sam to bail them out