August in New Orleans sucks. The brutal summer beats us down, hurricane warnings cause frequent evacuations (and sometimes brutal damage), and restauranters and musicians travel elsewhere until the fall. But now, I fear that for the next few years we'll be subjected to a further insult: the political Katrina rememberences.
Barack Obama already showed up...President Bush will be here for the anniversary on the 29th and scores of other politicians (Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, etc.) will show their face. And to what end? Some New Orleans New Deal? An influx of money, a plan to fix the levees, return people to their homes and the musicians to their gigs?
Well, that's what local historian, Douglas Brinkley hopes in this all-encompassing Washington Post editorial today (it's worth the whole read):
Theodore Roosevelt set aside 230 million acres for wildlife conservation (plus built the Panama Canal). Franklin D. Roosevelt began a kaleidoscope of New Deal programs to calm the Great Depression and Truman oversaw the Marshall Plan rebuilding of Western Europe after World War II. Bush could seize the initiative and announce a real plan to rebuild, a partnership between the government, Fortune 500 companies and faith-based groups.
And yet, as much as I'd like this to happen, it saddens me to know that it just won't. Look - let's leave alone Bush for a bit...the less said about him on this site the better. Even Obama's plan to help rebuild this city does little more than shuffle around the chairs on the deck. And the Fortune 500 companies? The decades before Katrina saw a steady exodus of these companies out of New Orleans.
But there's no reason to be nihilistic. There's a huge influx of latins workers and young intellectuals...and mixed with the amazing culture and creativity of the city itself - who knows what may emerge...
It'll be different, but will still be the most unique and precious city...
...and plus, in a few days August will end.
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