Campaign signs lined my route to work this morning, the New Orleans Mayoral Election is upon us.
I think Landrieu will win, and by more than ten percent, but I wonder how much it matters. Because ultimately, New Orleans still needs federal leadership. And with the President droning about immigration and the Republican Congress throwing meat at its base, nobody's paying attention.
Sure, the election will get some national coverage, it's a curiosity. Never before have so many displaced Americans elected a mayor. So the media will shine a light on the city for a moment. To be fair, some have continued to talk about the conditions here, but they allow politicians to drive the debate, and our leaders sure don't want to talk about New Orleans. As the city prepares for the start of the 2006 hurricane season, so many wounds from Katrina still lie open.
St. Bernard Parish was perhaps the hardest hit of Louisiana parishes. Katrina's storms surge, reportedly 25 feet in some places, swept away or submerged one-story structures, and the vast majority of all buildings in the parish are in need of demolition.
In the Upper Ninth Ward, debris is gathered in piles on corners. Everything from the drywall and the insulation to the ruined pooh bear doll and the mold-covered mattress sit in piles next to cars overturned where Katrina left them. Gutted, hollow houses gape out onto the still too quiet street. So much destruction remains eight months later that it's difficult to understand all the progress that's been made.
As recovery moves forward under today's winner, the long-term success of New Orleans depends on federal leadership. New Orleans will abide, but if the city is to be transformed into something better than it was, rather than something less, the time for action is now.
Obviously Hurricane Katrina is an issue the Democrats should use in the fall, demonstrating the incompetence of both the administration, and more important, the failure of conservative governance. But the issue has faded and is in need of a dramatic shift. Developing policy and messaging to run on this issue is a challenge.
The profound shift in the American political landscape never came after Hurricane Katrina. The events have been an anchor on Bush's approval rating, but we never had the national conversation about poverty and race and class that so many were hoping for.
It's not too late, but Democrats need to make a major plan to rebuild the gulf coast a central element of whatever type of national platform emerges.