On today's Fox News, Bush point-man on Hurricane Katrina recovery,
Don Powell, proved to America that the Bush adminstration is intent upon rebuilding
the curtain that hid the face of poverty from our eyes for far too many years in the city of New Orleans. Mr. Powell appeared proud to say that he was satisfied that the ports, energy, and tourism were "back." He said nothing about the President's blatantly broken promises to attend to the poverty that has been so pervasive in the city. If anyone who heard Mr. Powell speak on Fox News this morning had suspected that the government's slow response to the hurricane was due to racism or class discrimination, their concerns may have been further reinforced. Don Powell looked like he didn't care about the people while he was concentrating on the fact that the money-machine was rolling in the region.
Shortly after Katrina,
George Lakoff had best explained how the hurricane had moved the issue of poverty into the forefront of America's consciousness:
"The Katrina tragedy should become a watershed in American politics. This was when the usually invisible people suddenly appeared in all the anguish of their lives -- the impoverished, the old, the infirm, the kids and the low-wage workers with no cars, TVs or credit cards. They showed up on America's doorsteps, entered the living rooms and stayed. Katrina will not go away soon, and she has the power to change America."
Last September, NY Times columnist
David Brooks had anticipated "political disturbance" because of the fact that the victims of the terrible storm were predominantly black and poor. He explained how floods are also civic examinations. He'd said:
"Amid all the stories that recur with every disaster - tales of sudden death and miraculous survival, the displacement and the disease - there is also the testing. Civic arrangements work or they fail. Leaders are found worthy or wanting. What's happening in New Orleans and Mississippi today is a human tragedy. But take a close look at the people you see wandering, devastated, around New Orleans: they are predominantly black and poor. The political disturbances are still to come."
Almost a year ago in his Jackson Square speech, President Bush
said that "the floodwaters exposed a deep-seated poverty that has cut people off from the opportunities of our country," yet he hasn't taken discernable steps to do a thing about it. Newsweek's
Jonathan Alter mentions an article written one year ago that suggested the hurricane's wrath had prompted a fresh look at "The Other America" -- the 37 million Americans living below the poverty line. Today, Mr. Alter points out that the federal government's neglect of the problems of the poor is not in the least "benign." Congress has been MIA on the issue of Poverty, and if you look at their tax cuts for the wealthy and their immoral budgeting efforts, it is easy to get a sense that this Republican-controlled governnment firmly agrees with Grover Norquist's "drown American social safety net in the bathtub" style of governing.
It is evident that the Philadelphia Inquirer's
editors can see the forest for the trees in their editorial:
In the days and weeks that followed [Katrina], pundits, politicians and others expressed remorse that their nation had allowed the situation to get so out of hand in New Orleans. Not just post-Katrina, but before, when the poverty that made the storm's victims so vulnerable was cultivated. Their hand-wringing commentaries got the president's attention and focused the nation's attention on the many holes in its safety net - for about 11 seconds. That was then, and this is now. A year later, Washington's approach to the issue of poverty amid plenty in America is little changed: Ignore it as much as you can.
Newsweek's Michael Eric Dyson suggests that those who experienced a heightened state of consciousness about poverty after Katrina and focused on the government's need to attend to the problems of the poor that affect us all have been disappointed by the Bush administration and GOP-led Congress in the past year, when they had every opportunity to use their power to do something aboout it. Instead, the president (with a willing GOP-controlled Congress} have "failed to foster public policy and legislation that helps the poor to escape their plight. Instead, Mr. Dyson suggests, President Bush "remains intent on slashing tens of billions from social programs that help the poor combat such a vicious legacy.":
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Katrina's violent winds and killing waters swept into the mainstream a stark realization: the nation's poor had been abandoned by society and its institutions long before the storm. Since then, we have failed to acknowledge that grinding poverty is fueled by social choices and public-policy decisions that directly impact how many people are poor and how long they remain that way.
Over 70% of the Dutch economy operates below sea level and over 70 percent of the deaths from Hurricane Katrina were (mostly poor) people over 60 years old. Half a telephone directory after the worst natural disaster in America's recent history, the Bush administration and GOP-controlled Congress have shown that, with all of its wealth, their America isn't an efficient or caring place. If we were to be politically caustic, Katrina's wrath which took more than 1,000 (mostly poor) people in the city and displaced tens of thousands (mostly poor) people could easily be seen as a helpful Republican tool for eradicating poverty from New Orleans.
The tragedy surrounding Katrina had morally called, required, and empowered all of us to change America. It had driven Senator and 2004 VP candidate John Edwards' "Two Americas" message front and center - and straight into our hearts and minds. American citizens heard the call, and what did the Bush administration and GOP-controlled Congress do about poverty? They ignored it after enough time had passed and once they felt that the cry of the poor had left the consciousness of the American public. They went on to pass one of the most immoral budgets ever seen and they are fighting minimum wage increase unless it comes in a package with more obscene tax cuts for the richest.