DAS Blog

An interesting opinion piece of the "things are not so bad" variety. Wanna bet this person's politics are somewhere in the neighborhood of the DLC? The author manages (as many have) to ignore that the real racism of those overhyping what was happening in the Superdome, etc., as well as the reasons for the poverty in the first place. The author also misses what some are finally picking up on -- contrary to reports, the Lower 9th Ward is a place which it makes quite a bit of sense to rebuild as it is not the most flood prone part of the city, etc. ... the reasons for not rebuilding that area, which lack of effort has largely been due to issues at a federal level, if you know what I mean, indeed indicate some degree of racism: Nagin has a point.

But this is not why I am pointing this piece out to y'all: the interesting fact in this piece is that it points out that whatever flaws occurred in the evacuation procedure (whilst blaming the victims) were known to FEMA, et al., before hand (and I would add, this indicates not that everything was as good as could be expected as the author indicates, but rather than the feds needed to work out a better plan -- which was an interstate and hence federal concern -- so Bush & CO are culpable) and more importantly points out that Nagin and Blanco actually did execute their duties well: contrary to Republican blaming of them. While this piece seems to, DLC and MSM-style, say "the facts show both sides" did what they were supposed to, a little reading between the lines indicates, from the facts laid out in this piece, that Nagin and Blanco were quite competent (and have not received the credit they deserve) and the feds, under Bush & CO, have not been.