In all respect to those whose innate sense of deceny tells them that the aftermath of Katrina is not a time for politics...well, you're disarming while the other side is charging into battle.
To put this in perspective: OF COURSE the first priority is to get help to those who need it. That's also the second priority, third priority, fourth, fiften, sixth, and eighty-seventh priority. Etcetera.
But for those of us who have already donated to the Red Cross or a similar relief agency (yes, that was a plug: if you haven't yet-- please do so now!) and are not occupied full-time in providing relief, we need to be vigilant about the overall health of this country. And that means keeping an eye on where this is going, politically.
As you might expect, the spin has already started from the White House. Here's today's NY Times:
[...snip...]
That leaves more than 60 percent of their Guard still in the state, which Joseph M. Allbaugh, one of Mr. Bush's closest friends and his first head of FEMA, said in an interview Wednesday should be plenty for the challenge ahead.
"If anyone is telling you that Iraq is getting in the way, well that's hogwash," Mr. Allbaugh said from Baton Rouge, where he was clinging to a bad cellphone connection while trying to help muster private industry to aid in the disaster relief.
[...snip...]
Mr. Bush's instinctive response to such moments, his longtime aides and friends say, is to set up measurements to determine whether his efforts are adequately addressing a problem. "He likes being a hands-on manager," said Mr. Allbaugh. "He wants numbers, he wants to be able to show that the ball is moving down the field."That was evident Wednesday in the Rose Garden, when Mr. Bush started ticking off statistics on the number of people rescued, the numbers of meals-ready-to-eat that have been delivered, the number of people already in shelters.
[...snip...]
...Mr. Bush's biggest risk may be an inability to control circumstances that are beyond his ability to shape from Washington.
"The great thing about this president is that he doesn't try to use tragedy to gain immediate attention for himself," said Bob Martinez, a former governor of Florida who has endured his share of hurricanes and other disasters. "He talks to those with knowledge, and then he acts."
But now, he said, "there needs to be a powerful message to the country to energize the help," a message Mr. Bush plans to amplify, his aides say, when he visits the stricken areas, probably Friday or Saturday. Mr. Martinez noted that "the risk is that there is sometimes a big disconnect between you when you speak and when bottles of water end up in people's hands."
My point here is not about the Time's coverage. It's about the GOP operatives quoted above, and how they're already being marshalled to make sure that their Dear Leader continues to be thought of as strong, resolved, full of resolution, resolveratin', and so on. They have a full court press of political spin already in play, and they are VERY busy trying to counter any possible criticism of George W. with constant P.R. about what a god on earth he is. And if they can somehow overcome the negative press and move on to full-out exploitation of the tragedy to push up Bush and the GOP's numbers, a la 9/11, they sure as hell won't hesitate to do that.
Thus, Bush's shameful three-day delay in addressing Katrina seriously becomes a sign that he's not trying to "gain attention for himself." Thus, we have patronage hack Joe Allbaugh pushing back hard on the very suggestion that that our resources are far too tied up in Iraq. How could anyone even hint at such an insane thing?!
So I greatly respect and empathize with those who prefer a world in which we can band together as a nation during such times and focus SOLEY on how to help people. I'd prefer that world, too. But it's not the world we live in. If it ever was, it died sometime between 9/11/2001 and the November 2002 elections, when the GOP used 9/11 as a political blunt instrument again and again and again, and Democrats stood by helplessly, trying to be decent. We all how that worked out.
Since this is a community which takes legitimate pride as being reality-based, we must face the absolute reality that the Republican party and its many allies are already very hard at work spinning this for BushCo. We can choose to take pride in our deceny and unilaterally disarm, or we can make sure that it gets no traction.
Again, this is NOT an argument for neglecting the most important duty of helping those who are dire need of it. That takes precedence over absolutely everything. I'm also not advocating that we make our political arguments sloppily, without basing them in facts. But after seeing the very impressive research already done on Daily Kos, I'm not too worried about that.
We can choose to unilaterally disarm, and think ourselves noble. But it will cost us when the 2006 elections come up. Because if anyone thinks that this is not already a political event, my response is: hogwash.
