Mike Rosen: The rebirth of the blues (Katrina / New Orleans)

The natural disaster that devastated New Orleans had been predicted for this below-sea-level city on the turbulent Gulf Cost for a hundred years or more. It was inevitable. The death toll is estimated to be in the thousands; the economic cost in the tens of billions. Now, we'll bury our dead, mourn their passing and begin the laborious process of cleanup and restoration. What else is there to do?

The sights, sounds and smells emanating from New Orleans, the images of dead bodies floating in the water, the killing and looting, the throng of homeless fleeing the destruction and its aftermath are harrowing and appalling. It's futile to expect perspective and circumspection from many people when a catastrophe like this strikes. Shock, grief and anger breed emotional outpourings and excesses.

Terrible as the situation in New Orleans is, it's not the most destructive event in U.S. history, as some have described it. Perhaps they're unaware of the Civil War. Chicago recovered from the great fire of 1870, San Francisco recovered from the earthquake of 1906 and Los Angeles from the 1994 quake. New Orleans will recover from this. Catastrophic quakes will strike California again, but no one seriously considered abandoning the state. And hurricanes will strike New Orleans again, but we'll rebuild the city nonetheless, and more wisely this time.

It was entirely predictable that opportunists would seize on the New Orleans tragedy for political gain. The rains had barely subsided before the Bush-hating rapid deployment team had Michael Moore, Molly Ivins, Paul Krugman and Jesse Jackson on the job:

• The hurricane, itself, was Bush's fault: he should have done more to end global warming. Nonsense. Levelheaded scientists have rejected this claim. Katrina isn't explained by global warming; it was just the latest in a string of killer storms to hit the Gulf Coast. Eight thousand died when a Category 4 hurricane hit Galveston in 1900, long before global warming paranoia became fashionable.

• Black racists goaded on by media liberals charged Bush with dragging his feet on disaster response because the New Orleans residents were black and poor. Preposterous. Imagine a conversation between Bush and Michael Brown, in which the president ordered the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to "hold off a couple of days on rescue efforts because these poor black folks didn't vote for me." The devastation in New Orleans is unprecedented. There was no way to flip a switch and have thousands of National Guardsmen and relief workers in place. It took some time to assess the situation, organize a plan, provide logistical support, assemble and deploy. According to New Orleans' official emergency management plan, primary evacuation responsibility lies not with the feds but with the city and state (which controls the Louisiana National Guard). Why weren't Mayor Ray Nagin (a black man) and Gov. Kathleen Blanco, both Democrats, better prepared? Do they hate blacks, too?

• The levees gave way because Bush cut funding to the Army Corps of Engineers. Cheap shot. Funds are always scarce, especially when there's a deficit. Levee construction and redesign has been an ongoing federal process for decades. The new 72-mile levee from Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico has long been under way and is still 10 or more years from completion. You could just as well say Clinton should have set a higher priority on the project and increased funding when we had a budget surplus.

• Looters were only taking food and clothing to survive; don't blame the victims. True, in some cases. But why did others need television sets and jewelry? And why were some "victims" victimizing other victims and shooting at rescue workers?

If the 2004 election had gone the other way and if Katrina had struck on John Kerry's watch, do you suppose the anti-Bush crowd would be heaping their invective on him? Not a chance. But Kerry would have done a better job of responding immediately, they'd say. Not bloody likely. This is partisanship on stilts from the usual suspects.

It's my nature to be a problem solver, not a problem wallower. Recriminations aren't productive. The task is to turn this problem into an opportunity. Of course, we would erase the death and destruction if we could. But we can't. It's water over the levee. New Orleans has been an economically distressed city, in decline, for years, infamous for its political corruption. Now it will be the beneficiary of billions of dollars from outside the state in disaster aid and capital for rebuilding and modernizing the levee system. High-paying construction and related jobs will abound to remake the city. New Orleans is getting a new lease on life. Let's hope it's put to good use.

Bravo!! *Hands clapping* Another voice of reason. Does his show get broadcast in Boulder? ;-)

Yes, his show is heard loud and clear! ... though I'm sure some wacko leftist in Boulder dreams of someday jamming the signal at the Boulder County line. ;)

Mike's show from 9am to 11:45am M-F mountain time is heard via radio waves from Denver up into Wyoming, east into Kansas and Nebraska, south into northern New Mexico and west into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado... during the day time no less. Nothing like the power of the 50,000 watt blow torch of the Rockies.

You can also listen to him on-line at http://www.850koa.com/ and click on the 'Listen Live' link at the top left side of the page. (No registration required)

Mike is the best talk show host / columnist in the country who is not yet nationally syndicated.

The whole blame issue is driving me nuts.

First of all, spending time and energy in fingerpointing is not only unproductive and unhelpful, at this point it is counterproductive because it takes away from positive action and destroys morale and hope.

Second, there is plenty of "blame" to go around. Although I personally think it's primarily a state,local,and PERSONAL responsibility issue, I think there is also a federal component to the situation. I don't think any single group or person is entirely at fault, nor do I think any single group or person was entirely perfect in their actions.

Third, we ALL can learn from mistakes made and improve our response to the next crisis we face. If we spend all of our time pointing fingers and trying to deflect criticism, we will be unable to learn. When the primary after-action exercise is one of fingerpointing, it is a sad commentary on all of us that we have so little desire or incentive to learn and improve.

How many of us can truly say we did our very best in high school/college/etc? Couldn't we all have worked a little harder and done a little better? Saying that you made mistakes and could have done better does NOT imply that you did poorly. This is also an important point that is missed. Certainly there are those who have done a poor job (in school or during Katrina) and the reasons are many: poor attitude, uncaring, in over their heads, ill-equipped for the work, lazy, stupid. But we make a grave error when we demonize someone who has done a good job but has room for improvement

For example, saying that the tragedy is caused by racism is an effort to shift blame from those who prefer to sit and wait for others to take responsibility, those who ignored evacuation orders, and black officials onto the entire white population. This is absurd. Saying that there is no racial component to people's actions is also an absurd denial of reality. Yes, blacks in America do experience racism. Racism didn't cause the problem, though it may have made things worse in some instances. But sitting on your hands (except when you use them to point the finger) and waiting for someone else to take responsibility (and then complaining that they have marginalized you) are not productive strategies. Sometimes in life, it IS someone else's fault that you've been hurt. But if you wait for that person to fix it, you're gonna have a long wait. Better to take positive action and personal responsibility.

I suggest that barring criminal intent or negligence, we quit the blame game and pitch in to fix the problem. After the problem is under control, it might be useful to spend a small amount of time and money to look at fault, BUT ONLY FOR THE REASON of improving ourselves the next time around. Looking for fault should NOT be for the purpose of political jockeying or deflecting criticism of our own missteps.

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