Cross-posted at
Political Moneyball
Usually, I like Leader Pelosi. I think she's taken the position of minority leader, and made it her own. She's got good ideas, and has done an admirable job of keeping her caucus in line (for the most part). She's a great face for the party, and her liberal voting record is one that makes this Delaware boy wish he lived in San Francisco. I've argued before that she's not a poised or polished as someone like Rahm Emanual - as her experience on MTP showed - but I'm not expecting her to look like a majority leader. Not yet anyway.
Éclat aside, I'd like to take issue with something she said yesterday in a press release.
One year ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall, causing the tragedy, and exposing another. One year later, neither the tragedy Katrina caused -- the flooding of New Orleans and the devastation of the Gulf Coast; nor the tragedy that it exposed -- the extent of the federal government's failure to provide a life of security and dignity to all of our citizens -- have been adequately addressed. Hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens still await the help in rebuilding their hospitals, schools, businesses, and homes that was promised last fall.
It seems to me that Katrina didn't just show the inability of this administration to manage a crisis. It showed America's inability to solve the problem of poverty. Some comedian joked about Katrina (maybe Lewis Black): we thought we were winning the war on poverty - until Katrina showed up. For middle-class, white Americans like myself, it's easy to not recognize the gravity of the poverty problem in America: I'm simply never in the poorest of the poor neighborhoods. That's not to say I'm not sympathetic, or that I don't care about their plight. I'm just not exposed to it.
Katrina changed all of that. Suddenly, the faces of the poor (and dying) were in the living rooms of middle class Americans.
As a Democrat, I believe the job of my party is to be a voice for all Americans, not just the rich. Andrew Jackson, the father of the Democratic Party, was famous for standing up for the rights of the common man, for the poor man, for the man left behind. Why doesn't Leader Pelosi speak up a little bit louder? Say something about the poor. Specifically.
I understand she doesn't want to be seen as hijacking the tragedy for political gains. But the statement (the whole statement is here) is weak. We need to be a voice for the victims of Katrina. Not just the one's left in New Orleans, but the ones scattered across the country.
Say things like this Leader Pelosi:
The Katria Disaster revealed how poorly this Administration has dealt with the issues of poverty in America. They have decided it's better politics to ignore the plight of the poor, and to ensure the prosperity of their base.
The mismanagement of the Katrina relief efforts highlights the lack of concern this Administration has for providing quality jobs for the working poor of America. Rather than stand up for the workers of New Orleans, Washington stands up for Haliburton.
Katrina showed that the Bush Administration is better suited to ensure that their cronies have jobs than to provide for the average American.