Not so much a bell as an unimportant inconvenience

Historian Douglas Brinkley: Bush's speech in Jackson Square was a phony [Crooks and Liars]

It's about leadership.

When you look at presidents, a Theodore Roosevelt or a Harry Truman or a Ronald Reagan, the great American presidents would not let a region die and suffer. They would have seen this as the bell ringing. This would be the moment that would define their presidency, and it is not too late for President Bush to do that. But he gave a very powerful speech in Jackson Square. The blue lights were behind him, and, if you read that speech, it was wonderful.

But the reality is, the speech is--was phony. And we are not getting the funding. We are not getting the federal attention, and I think that it's tragic. And if President Bush wants to ignore New Orleans, then just say so. Let us know. Let us know not to come back, there are never going to be levees built, that we are not going to be--there isn't going to be a massive public works project.

There's an LA Times editorial from a few weeks back making this point more thoroughly that I started a post on that I'll dig up this weekend.   Current Events   1 comment(s)  

Isn't this what the war on terror was supposed to prevent, namely, the loss of a major US city? Are we just going to sit here and let it slowly happen? Apparently. But is anyone really shocked? Very dark times, these are. Time to re-build (New Orleans, too)
      ...posted by DaveT on January 2, 2006 6:06 PM

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